Tira Beginnings
by vinny2
Summary: The Story of Tira, before Soul Calibur 3. UPDATE: Final chapter up!Tira vs. Toren! Finished!
1. The Bird of Passage

Chapter 1: The Bird of Passage

Many years ago there was a clan known as the Bird of Passage. For seven years the clan was sending their best assassins to fight the renegade pirate know as Cervantes, who was been ruling Valencia for seven years in tyranny. All attempts we're failures. At the time, a child was born in the clan. She had purple colored eyes with a mole below her right eye. She was named Tira and was soon taught the way of the Bird of Paradise.

When Tira was five, she began her assassination training, in hoping that she will one day be chosen to challenge Cervantes. Tira surpassed her classmates and by ten, Tira was already at the level of most adult assassins, except for one. Tira's twin brother Toren was equal in ability and experience. Years passed as their mutual competition for more and more missions grew until one day.

Tira, then 13 years old was asked to enter the briefing room for her new mission. Every time she went up there, she always expected the Cervantes mission, but she never got it, but today was different.

Upon entering, she saw thee clan leaver standing next to a seated Toren. "What he doing here," asked Tira in an innocent sounding outrage. Whatever mission you have for me I can do alone."

I'm afraid not," said the leader, a chubby man but experienced assassin. "Because today you're getting the Cervantes mission." Tira's eyes lit up with excitement and soon forgot her outrage that if she wanted the mission, she'd have to go with Toren.

"Anyways," continued the leader, " As you already know, Cervantes has been controlling the area in and around Valencia, Spain. You and Toren will take one of our boats in Copenhagen and take it to Barcelona. From there, you meet up with our Barcelona chapter and get horses. Travel from there to Valencia. The rest is up to you. Good luck. You'll leave tomorrow morning so rest up."

Tira was speechless. She had never left Denmark and now she was going to Spain to fight a legend. Tira couldn't sleep. She stayed up all night practicing her one-hit kills. "This isn't working," she said to herself. "This dagger's no good. I need a different weapon." Sadly, she wasn't given a choice of weaponry and was stuck with a dagger.

Morning came sooner than Tira had expected and was already waiting outside when the clan leader came out with Toren close behind. "I see you're overexcited," mention Toren, "but did you remember your weapon?" Tira stared at Toren for a few seconds before she responded, "Of cause I do." Tira lied, but she figured it would be better than looking bad in front of Toren and the clan leader.

Tira and Toren didn't exchange more than two words until they arrived at the boat. Upon boarding Toren announced, "It'll take a day to reach Spain. I'll tell the crew the ship off and rest." Toren left below deck and in a matter of minutes, the ship set sail and they we're off to Spain.

Tira still couldn't sleep. Tira still couldn't sleep. She stared out into the ocean as it the sea breeze calmly combed through her blue-green hair, but it wouldn't last for long.

Only minutes later, their ship was under cannon-fire. The crew prepared their own cannons, but the ship was already heavily damaged. Tira prepared for battle and could see that Toren was now above deck and ready to battle.

Moments later, the ship was boarded and Tira went in for the kill. After only killing three pirates, the rocking of the ship knocked her unconscious and into the unknown ocean.

Tira awoke midday to see Toren standing nearby. "Tira stood up and asked Toren, "Where are we?

"Well," responded Toren, "While you napped, I asked the local. It appears we're in a small town called Ostrheinburg."


	2. The Search for Ostrheinburg Castle

Chapter 2: The Search for Ostrheinburg Castle

The siblings began to enter town, but no sign of their crew, or any members of the Bird of Passage. Tira became worried and asked Toren, "I thought that there we're Bird of Passage chapters everywhere. Why aren't there any here?"

"Well," Toren started, "There used to be, but there was little buisness, so HQ shut it down. The chapter used to be in a place called Ostrheinburg Castle. If we go there, we might find something useful.

Toren began to walk again before he stopped suddenly saying, "I just realized that I have no idea where the castle is." Tira and Toren tried asking locals, but when they mentioned the castle, the locals refused to answer. The siblings gave up their questioning and began the search for the castle themselves.

Hours passed but there was no sign of the castle. Night came sooner than expected, so Tira and Toren checked in at an inn for the night. The twins were tired and slept well into the night and awoke and continued their search, but upon their leave, someone from the inn began to follow them. The old man followed them for hours until Toren decided to do somehting about it.

"Hold on a sec," he told Tira, "We have a visitor." Toren ran behind the tree he was hiding behind and dragged him out with a chokehold. After letting him go, the old man stood up and said, "Icouldn't help but overhearing that you're looking for Ostrheinburg Castle. I hope you know that they're no longer in service."

"We know," said Tira, "We're members from a different chapter."

"Well," the old man started, "In that case I'll tell you how to get there on one condition. A simple challenge. Just take this glass ornament from me. Do that and you'll get the location."

Toren stared at he old man, "I won't do it." Tira's jaw dropped in awe and asked, "Why not."

Because," Toren replied, "He blind."

Tira walked up to the old man and said, "That's not such a bad thing.That makes him easier to defeat."

The old man picked up his cane and hit Tira behind her knees and said as she fell to the ground, "I fight dirty!" Tira crawled over to where Toren was standing and begged him to take the challenge. Toren still refused so Tira accepted the old man's challenge.

Tira and the old man stood facing each other for a few minutes before Tira rushed him. The old man flipped over Tira, allowing her to run into a tree. Tira stood up, still dazed trying the same move twice. The outcame was the same. Tira regained composure and managed to sneak up behind the old man and grab the ornament, but before getting far, the old man took his cane and shattered the ornament."

Tira stood confused while the old man smirked and Toren stared at the old man, impressed that he knew the perfect stragety. Tira spun around and yelled, "What! You can't do that!"

Toren walked over and said,"I'm afraid he can. You see Tira, Your job was to win. His job was simply not to lose. By shattering the ornament, he made sure that there was no way you'd win."

"Thanks for the supports Toren," Tira said sarcasticly.

"Anyway you look at it," said the old man, "You lost. Looks like the location stays a secret." As the old man walked off Toren whispered in Tira's ear and soon afterwards Tira said, "He might as well leave. I bet he doesn't even know where it is."

"Oh please," said the old man, "That's the oldest trick in the book. Don't tell me you really expect me to fall for that."

"Not really," said Toren, "Seeing how you're just as old and thus frail as the trick. I bet that even if you did now its location, you're too old to take us there."

"Oh yeah," the old an started, "I'll show- Hey! Wait a minute. I almost fell for that one."

"As expected," said Tira tauntingly. "We can't expect an old man like you to remember all the tricks in the book, much less the cestle's location."

"That's it!" the old an screamed, "I don't care if that was a trick. I'll show you what I can do!" The old man passed Tira and Toren as they gave each other high-fives.

A long trek ensued and Tira and Toren lagged long behind the old man who scoffed every thirty seconds. Night came as they arrives at a discreet waterfall.

"What's here old man?" asked Toren.

"If you look closely you'll find what you'll looking for," he said misticly.

Tira walked up to the old man and said, "No offence, but seeing isn't really one of your strong suits."

The old man didn't move. Instead he responded, "Let's just say I have a sixth sense about these things."

"Or in your case, a fifth sense," said Toren sarcasticly. Tira continued to stare at the old amn and said, "All this extra sense talk is facinating but how does this help us find the castle."

The old man became irriteted with Tira's lack offocus and said,"Do I have to spell it out for you? Use your brain to see, not your eyes."

"Couldn't we just swim through the waterfall?"asked Tira.

"I suppose you could," started the old man, but before he could finish, Tira and Toren were swimminng through the waterfall. The old man shook his head and said to himself, "No one ever respects the wise old man." The old man dove ino the waters after the twin.

Once in, the three were staring at the old station of the Bird of Passage, The Ostrheinburg Castle.

The towering castle stood hundereds of feet high, hundereds of feet long. Obviously made of marble, the tower sparkled so brightly in the night with such attractive brilliace that Tira couldn't take her eyes off it. She began to walked near it when she was pulled back by the old man and Toren who said, "Are you crazy? You almost walked right into that moat."

Before Tira could respond, an explosion cause all of them to plunge deep into the murky moat.


	3. A History of Violence

Chapter 3: A History of Violence

Tira opened her eyes to see she was on a large piece of wood rushing down the moat, which was now the speed of white-water rafting. Tira held on for what seemed like hours until she was engulfed in the waters once again. Tira tried her best to stay above water,but as soon as she reached the surface,she was dragged under again. Tira's energy has fading fast, and so was her consciousness.

Tira felt her life slowly slip away as she sank deeper and deeper. Eventually, Tira's stopped fighting it and sank to the bottom.

Hours passed until Tira opened her eyes to see that she was in a cave-like setting. Tira, still very weak, stood up and asked herself, "Where am I? Am I dead? Is this Hell?"

"Something like that," said Toren's voice from behind her. Tira turned around to see Toren standing against the wall. He continued, "Anyways, I seems we're under the castle, but there doesn't seem to be an exit, or an entrance, so this doesn't explain how we even got here, or where that blind old man went."

Tira began helping her brother search for an exit, but all crevasses were either too small or lead to dead ends. The siblings gave up. They returned to the center of the cave and decided to relax. Toren sat by a wall and Tira sat on a nearby rock, but as soon as Tira sat down, the wall behind Toren lifted and he fell down a slide. Tira ran over to the wall and jumped through before it closed on her. Tira slid at speeds unmatched as Tira said to herself, "Why do I have a feeling this isn't going to end good?"

Tira saw a light at the end of the slide and landed on marble floor. Tira stood up to see Toren was sitting on a ledge when he said to Tira, "I don't know how, but we're inside the castle."

"That makes no sense!" screamed Tira, "We fell down!" Tira ran over to where Toren was sitting to see that they we're hundreds of feet from the ground. "Well," started Tira, "Please tell me that there was something we could use around here."

"I'm afraid not," said Toren, "I've searched this place from top to bottom." Toren stood up and began to walk back and forth. Tira became irritated by Toren constant walking and barked, "Would you stop it!"

"I would if you have a plan to get us down from here!" Toren barked back.

Tira lost her temper and tackled Toren. Toren kicked her off of him and stood ready to fight. Tira wobbled up and went in to kick Toren in the head, but her foot was grabbed by Toren who flung her to the ground. Tira went in for another tackle, but missed.

"Tira!" Toren exclaimed, "Can't you see what we're doing! Fighting each other isn't going to get us down from here!"

"You're right," agreed Tira, "I don't know what came over me."

"I can answer that," said the familiar voice of the old man. "It's magic." The siblings stared blankly at the old man who continued, "Allow me to explain. You see, you may think that this place was shut down because of poor business, but that's not exactly the case. You see,this building was built with one sole purpose: To be so beautiful that anyone who saw it would be compelled to enter, and once inside, ask the help of assassins, even if they didn't need it. Things went well for years, but nothing is ever perfect. It was soon obvious that the same people that became mezmorized by the castle beauty had a permanent mental condition in which the person could become maniacal and probably homicidal with the slightest irritance."

"Oh no," said Tira softly, "I was mezmorized before the explosion and I tackled Toren earlier because he was walking. Does this mean I have it?"

The old man shook his head and responded, "The evidence is substantial. The bad news is that there's no way to get rid of it, but the good news is that some people have learned to repress it. In the meantime, back to my story. The leader became worried that his assassins would face under the same condition, so we did all he could to get HQ to shut it down, but all requests were denied. Months passed and the leader stayed antsy until his theory became true. Numerous assassins went insane and they were killed. Only their leader survived, who built a man-made mountain to cover the castle, but made an emergency entrance through the waterfall, just in case he ever needed to return."

"You seem to know more than a normal person," said Toren suspiciously, "Care to fill us in?"

It took you long enough to realize," he said, "but I am the old leader of this chapter. HQ decided that if anyone found out about this, they might not go to other chapter, so they filed it as not enough business, but the locals of Ostrheinburg know The truth, and they've been threatened not to talk."

"Now it makes sense, Toren," said Tira, "That's why no one would tell us its location."

True," replied Toren, "but it doesn't explain why he lead us here if he built this mountain to make sure no one could get here." Toren turned to the old man and commanded, "Explain."

"Very well," he replied. "I was payed by Cervantes to kill any Bird of Passage member that was planning to attack him. He called you quote Insignificant mosquitoes that have been a pain in the ass for too long unquote, but when I got here, I decided not to go through with it."

"Why not," Tira asked. The old man smirked and replied,"Because, Cervantes payed me in advance."

Great story," said Toren sarcastically, "but it doesn't get us off this building. Care to help us out, old man?"

"Well," he said laughing, "If you want to get off, just use the stairs in the back."

Tira walked over to Toren and whispered in his ear, "Uhhh, Toren. How did we miss that?"

"Don't ask me," he replied silently. "I'm still trying to figure out how we got up here seeing how we slid down, not up." The sibling hurried down the stairs with the old man close behind." Once reaching the ground Tira and Toren went over to the waterfall, but old man didn't move.

Toren spun around and asked,"You coming or not, old man?"

The old man shook his head and said, "Not. I have some unfinished business to take care of.

Tira and Toren left the old man and swam through the waterfall back onto the trail. Tira stopped Toren and said, "There's no way we'll make it to Valencia now. I say we go back.

"We might as well." agreed Toren. "We're unarmed, weak, and no clue where we are, which brings up a good question: How are we going to get home?"


	4. Welcome to the Jungle

Chapter 4: Welcome to the Jungle

"Well," suggested Toren, "we could wait until nightfall and follow the North Star." Tira shook her head in disagreement and said, "That would be great, but we don't know if Copenhagen is to the north."

The twins sat down near the waterfall trying to think of a plan when the sun began to set. Coyotes began to howl as Tira began to cower in fear. Tira had been afraid of coyotes ever since her father was killed by a pack of trained coyotes during a mission. Toren seemed indifferent towards coyotes, even favoring them over other animals, partly because he hated his father and upon hearing his death, smiled.

The coyotes howled again and as Tira hid behind Toren, he smirked as he said, "Looks like my old buddies have returned. Let's just hope they don't have the taste for the same bloodline." Toren continued smirking until he realized that Tira was hiding behind him.

"Don't worry," he said to Tira, "I'll protect you." Toren began to walk with Tira close behind as she whispered, "I don't need protection. I'm on this mission to prove my worth." The siblings walked on arbitrarily until reaching what appeared to be a jungle with a sign nearby reading: ENTER IF YOU DARE!"

Tira, still cowering behind Toren, said, "You know, I really don't like jungles. I'm more of a desert kind of girl."

"Fine," said Toren. "Stay out here in the dark with potential coyotes, because I'm going in. Toren began to walk in without even glancing back at Tira, but stopped to see that Tira was exactly one step behind him. Toren scoffed as they continued to walk on. The walk was uneventful for a long time, which gave Tira confidence, confidence that was quickly destroyed with the growling of the coyotes, growing that seemed to be getting closer.

"Wait," said Toren stopping abruptly. "We were just here. Look." Toren pointed to the dead rabbit in the corner, which Tira also remembered passing.

"What now?" asked Tira. "We can't just keep walking in circles."

"You won't have to," said an unfamiliar, menacing voice. Tira and Toren stood back-to-back, ready for battle, when a fierce-looking coyote dropped from the trees and said, "You two are invading private territory. There are steep consequences."

"What are you going to do?" asked Toren still unmoved and unafraid, which is the complete opposite of Tira who was now hiding behind Toren. "You're outnumbered."

"Correction," said the talking coyote as a swarm of coyotes enveloped the twins. "YOU'RE outnumbered."

Toren clenched his fist and in desperation launched himself at the talking coyote. Toren injected his teeth into the coyote's flesh, but was pulled off him and dragged off into the darkness. Tira was unaware of this as she was cowering on the ground with her eyes closed while covering her ears.

Another coyote was about to grab Tira, but was persuaded not to by the talking coyote. The coyotes gave a long howl before they ran off.

Minutes passed until Tira realized she was alone. "Oh no," she said to herself while staring at the coyote tracks. "They have Toren."

Meanwhile, Toren was locked in a cage made of bamboo with a cellmate dress in rags, cowering in the corner. The man wore oval glasses and no shoes, whispering something. Toren leaned over to hear what the man was mumbling. The man continued to repeat the same thing over and over again, disregarding Toren's presence repeating, "It's all my fault. My fault. The world will be in chaos and I'm to blame."

The man continued to repeat the sentence over and over again, and Toren soon lost his patience and punched the man and seemed to snap him out of his trance. Toren angrily stared into the man's eyes and commanded, "Tell me everything."

"No," he replied calmly. "It's not safe to tell anyone else."

Toren began to lose his patience and punched the man again. The man turned around and said, "It doesn't matter what you do to me. The world is over and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

Toren was quickly becoming murderous and asked in a loud voice, "Who are you?"

The man, still shaken, replied, "My name is Logan. That's all you need to know." Logan turned around and returned to chant "It's all my fault," over and over again. Toren realized that Logan wasn't going to tell anything else and began to watch the coyotes. Coyotes dotted the all possible entrances and exits and kill any animal that passed their path quickly and efficiently.

"Not even super coyotes know defense strategies like that. They're obviously trained." Toren thought hard on what he just said before spinning around and grabbing Logan by the through and shoving him against the cell what yelling, "You! You did this! You're responsible!"

"I told you," said Logan calmly, despite the fact Toren's fingernails were dug unto his throat and his blood was trickling slowly from his body. "This is my creation. This whole forest is my world. All who trespassed were killed, but the rumors of me killing for fun aren't true. I killed your father in self-defense."

"So you know who I am," said Toren, releasing Logan from the chokehold. "I guess that means I owe you a favor."

"I need nothing," said Logan tranquilly. "In a matter of days, the coyotes will begin their total world conquest, and all because I tampered with black magic."

"Well," suggested Toren, "what about getting out of this cage?"

"I already know how to get free, but there would be no point because the coyotes would just capture me. The only reason I'm still alive is because the coyotes know I only wish for death, and they want me to see what my creation will do to the world."

"Irony," said Toren, "but how would you like it if we gave the coyotes some irony of our own."

Logan, though still indifferent, thought about what Toren said and asked," Okay, what's your plan?"

Meanwhile, Tira was walking haphazardly around the jungle, before sitting on a tree stump and began to give up hope. "The coyote tracks led me nowhere and at this point I'll never make it out of here alive." Tira's hope continued to dwindle until she heard a nearby raven in pain. Tira looked up and saw that the raven was being attacked by a wild boar.

Tira stared at the battle saying to herself; "That poor little bird doesn't stand a chance. It's too bad, black's my favorite color."

The battle seemed unilateral until the raven used her brain. She flew up and began pecking at the boar's side. The boar could not retaliate and was soon bleeding on the ground. Tira's eyes widened in disbelief as the raven stood atop the dead boar. Tira crawled over to the raven and said, "You just taught me a lesson. I need to use my skills to face my fear, not run away like some coward." Tira stooped talking and noticed that the boar had injured the raven's wing to the state of not being able to fly."

"Well," said Tira, "I owe you a favor, so until you can fly, you're coming with me." Tira put the bird on her shoulder and said, "Now that you're my friend, you'll need a name." Tira thought long and hard before deciding, "I know! Your name is now Liv. It mean's life in Danish." Tira then continued her search for Toren.

Toren, meanwhile, was beginning his escape plan. Logan removed the false bamboo bar and slowly handed it Toren. Toren then squeezed through the empty space without being detected. Toren and Logan didn't get far before they were noticed and the battle ensued.

Toren utilized his Kendo skills and successfully fended off the coyotes, but the coyotes attacked again and were knocked back again. The coyotes continued this over and over again and appeared uninjured. Toren, on the other hand, was extremely fatigued. Toren still showed no mercy until Logan was bitten on his left shoulder. Toren knocked back the coyote and dragged Logan to a nearby tree. Toren ripped off his sleeve and tied it around Logan's gash.

"Why are you helping me?" asked Logan. "You said you're an assassin."

Toren didn't look up as he responded, "I only kill if I get paid for it." Toren fished tying up Logan's wound just in time to be tackled by the head coyote. Toren wobbled up to see that coyotes surrounded him. Toren put his hands up in surrender as the head coyotes said, "I warned you not to escape. Now you pay the price."

Toren closed his eyes when the coyotes leapt towards him. Toren opened his eyes to see Tira seemingly fly through the trees on a vine and grabbing Toren's arm before the coyote's fatal blow.

The siblings landed in a safe ravine. Toren stood up to see that Tira was now coddling the raven and asked, "What's that?"

"You like her?" asked Tira. "Her name is Liv. If it wasn't for her I'd still be lost and you'd be dead."

Toren chuckled before remembering about Logan. Toren shuffled off without a word and Tira followed close behind. By the time they returned, Logan was gone and the coyotes had already cleared out.

Tira was in an ultimate state of confusion before Toren explained it." After hearing the whole story, Tira suggested, "I know! Liv can help. She can find anything anywhere!" Toren shook his head and they were off to search for Logan and the evil coyotes. Hours passed without any luck before the twins decided to pitch up camp there. They slept through the night (or what they thought was night. Trees engulfed the sky, which gave the appearance of an all-day darkness.)

They woke up to see their camp was surrounded by napping coyotes. Tira almost screamed, but was stooped by Toren. They began to tiptoe backwards, but failed when Tira stepped on one of their tails. His yelp of pain quickly awoke the others, including their leader. The head coyote stepped forward and calmly said, "Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. Our new friend explained everything." The siblings stared at the coyote confused until Logan stepped out of the shadows yelling, "We did it, Toren! As long as I treat my coyote friends with respect, they won't try to take over the world. It's a win-win situation."

"Well," said Toren," that that everything is perfect for you, how about helping us get out of here?"

"After all that you've done for me, it's the least I could do." The group straddled on until they reached the jungle's exit. Once Logan gave them directions to Copenhagen, they began to walk off until Liv, whose wing was now healed, flew onto a nearby tree branch. Tira called to her, but she didn't move."

"She can't come with us," clarified Toren. "This is her home and we have no right to take her from it."

Tira reluctantly accepted the fact, despite shedding a tear as they walked on yelling, "Thanks for everything Liv, and don't worry, I'll be back for you someday!"


	5. Zatana, Master of the Ring Blade

Chapter 5: Zatana, Master of the Ring Blade

Tira and Toren were getting closer to home with every passing second, but Tira still couldn't accept that Liv had to be left behind. Toren tried to comfort his sister, but all attempts failed.

Hours passed and Denmark seemed no closer until a village was reached in which some of the locals spoke Danish. "We're almost there," said Toren optimistically. Tira remained pessimistic, knowing that they were both hungry and penniless. As the twins explored the town, they came across what appeared to be an arena with a sign reading:

Come and challenge the great Zatana! Last five minutes in the ring and be awarded with 5000 gold pieces and a buffet feast!

"A challenge," said Toren. "I guess this is my lucky day." The twins rushed into the arena to see a man, obviously nowhere near wealthy, step into a ropeless ring opposite a tall, beautiful woman wearing an obviously expensive dress and holding a blunt ring blade.

"Ohhhh," said Tira in awe, "I've never seen a weapon like that. It looks powerful." Toren didn't reply. Tira looked back at the ring and saw that the ring had been elevated about ten feet.

"This won't last long," said Toren, seeing the woman get into fighting position. "She's obviously been trained."

The crowd suddenly focused on two been stepping out of a door. The men were obviously rich. The one on the left with the goatee stepped forward and said, "Hello everyone! As you know, I'm Alpha and this is my brother Beta. This man here is one of the many people who have foolishly challenged Zatana and will join all the rest who walk the path shame." Alpha turned to his brother and said, "Beta, will you do the honors?"

"Certainly, Alpha." He responded, taking out a bell. Beta rang the bell and the man rushed Zatana. Zatana idly dodged the attack and used the blunt ring blade to knock the man right off the edge."

"And that's all, folks," said Alpha, "Zatana takes down another challenger in record time! Anyone brave enough to take on Zatana?" The crowd suddenly fell silent for a long time before Alpha began to speak again saying, "Last call!"

Toren leapt up and yelled, "Zatana! You're winning streak is over!"

The crowd began to cheer as Zatana walked over to Toren and said, "Another street urchin? This fight will be too fast."

Toren didn't respond and walked over to the ring. Zatana soon followed. Tira rushed over to Toren and began yelling words of encouragement, but her words were engulfed by the cheers for Zatana. The platform elevated and Beta rang the bell. Toren remained motionless as he analyzed Zatana's brief movements. Zatana motioned her ring blade in front of her and rushed Toren, who successfully leapt up and landed on the edge of the ring blade. The audience was in awe at Toren's accomplishment, but the cheers for Toren were evenly matched for the cheers for Zatana.

"Clever," complimented Zatana, "I guess I underestimated you, but what's going to bring your downfall is that you overestimated yourself!" Zatana launched the ring blade in the air along with Toren, and Toren landed face first at Zatana's feet. Zatana subsequently caught her ring blade and swung it directly at Toren. Toren rolled to the side and hopped up to see that he was stuck between Zatana and the edge.

"You know," said Zatana, readying for her attack, "You're a lot more skilled in fighting than your street clothing would lead one to believe, but your skill is still no match for me." Zatana swung and Toren back flipped away from the ring blade directly off the platform. Zatana thought she had won until she heard Toren's voice saying, "Maybe it's you who's overestimating yourself!" Zatana rushed over to see Toren barely hanging to the edge. Toren's eyes lit up as he launched himself at Zatana and back on the platform.

Meanwhile Tira noticed that Alpha and Beta were getting nervous. Tira was able to overhear Alpha saying, "That urchin's been in the ring for over four minutes. One more minute and he gets the prize that we don't have!"

"Relax," assured Beta. "Zatana won't lose." Alpha didn't calm down and even seemed to get more nervous with each passing second, which filled Tira with glee.

Back at the battle, Zatana impaled the ring blade into the ground and maneuvered herself through the ring blade and kicked Toren in the stomach and knocked him out of the ring with only ten seconds left.

A mixed review of cheers came from the audience after Toren's loss, which seemed to greatly upset Alpha and Beta. The platform lowered and Beta took Zatana by the arm and pulled her to the doorway where Tira stood in wait saying, "I came here for a fight and a fight I'm going to get." Alpha and Beta stared at Tira unimpressed.

Beta didn't seem the least bit interested in arguing as he said, "Out of our way little girl." Tira didn't move. Alpha stepped in front of Beta saying angrily, "Are you going to make me mad, because I'm not usually this pleasant."

"Neither am I," said Tira as she punched Alpha in the stomach. Alpha went down and Beta readied his arm for a punch, but Toren pulled his arm back before Beta got the chance.

Beta got more frustrated by the second and yelled, "Listen twerps, come back tomorrow and you can have your match, right now-"

"Right now," interrupted Tira, "I want my chance to fight."

Before Beta could respond, Zatana whispered to Beta, "What's the harm? It's not like I'll lose to a street urchin like her."

"That's what you said about her brother."

"I beat him, didn't I?"

"Barely."

Zatana didn't respond. Instead, she strode over to the platform and yelled to Tira, "If it's a fight you want, a fight you'll get." Tira gleefully ran over and the platform elevated as Alpha awoke from his unconscious state.

Beta refused to ring the bell so the battle begun without it. Zatana immediately sidestepped Tira initial attack and attempted to knock her off as she did the man she fought earlier, but Tira paid attention and subsequently back flipped behind Zatana, which left her at the edge. Zatana skipped back and impaled the ring blade into the ground, mimicking her move in her battle against Toren, and launched herself at Tira. Tira expected the attack and caught Zatana's legs mid-kick. Tira took advantage of her attentive situation and flung Zatana far away from the ring blade.

Tira ignored Zatana and could stop herself from staring at the ring blade thinking, _"Such a versatile weapon. I must have one!"_

Tira immediately picked up the ring blade and swung it at the fallen Zatana as if she had used it for years. Zatana successfully caught the ring blade before it hit her face, but face a new trouble when Tira used it to launch Zatana into the air. Tira then charged all her energy into the ring blade and engulfed it in flames as she threw it at the airborne Zatana. Zatana subsequently fell off the platform and cheers from all parts of the stadium praised Tira for her accomplishment.

The platform lowered as Tira stepped off to see an array of expressions in front of her. Tira was ahappy to see a surprised Zatana and a jealous Toren, but wasn't so thrilled to see the angered expressions on Alpha and Beta's faces.

Alpha immediately began yelling at Zatana. "You lost! No, you didn't just lose, you lost in under a minute!"

"So," insisted Zatana. "Just give them their prize."

The crowd grew silent just in time to hear Alpha proclaim, "We don't have any money!"

As soon as the audience head the confession, a recognizable face to all the citizens of Denmark stepped out of the shadows and said, "I've seen some low down scams, but none as bad as you two."

Toren stepped over to the man who was accompanied by a young woman asking, "And what, pray tell, is the powerful King Christian II doing here?"

"Some questions don't need answers," responded Christian. "But two businessmen owe me—no, owe the people of Denmark an explanation."

Meanwhile, Tira confronted the young woman and asked, "Aren't you Dyveke Sigbritsdatter?" The woman nodded as Tira continued, "You know you're very famous here, and being the king mistess doesn't make you very popular with the nobles."

"What they think is their business," she snapped. Tira smirked and said, "A woman who know what she wants. You my kind of girl."

Meanwhile, King Christian II continued to embarrass Alpha and Beta in front of at least 50 of the Danish population until Alpha proclaimed, "Okay! Okay! They'll get their prize!"

Christian was silent as the stadium began to empty. Alpha and Beta slunk away, but not before hearing Christian yelled, "and I'll be staying the night, just to make sure you keep your promise.

"Come," said Zatana to the King and his mistress, "I'll show you to the guest room." The stadium was almost empty by the time Tira and Toren followed the group into the lower levels. Upon entering their rooms, Tira and Toren were met with Alpha who said in a monotone, "Your grand feast will be ready soon. You'll get your money tomorrow and then I want you out."

"He seemed nice," said Tira sarcastically. Tira hopped on her bed and exclaimed, "Wow! Back home, all we ever had was a blanket."

Toren didn't share Tira's enthusiasm, simply warning her not to get used to the lap of luxury. Time went by fast and in a couple of hours, Dyveke called the twins for dinner.

Alpha and Bata were absent at the start of dinner. King Christian sat at the foot of the table with Dyveke on his left side. To the left of Dyveke sat Zatana and to the right of King Christian sat Toren and Tira.

The feast was brought in and Tira and Toren began to stuff their faces immediately. Zatana soon followed and the King and Dyveke joined in. Only a couple minutes in, one of the waiters whispered something King Christian's ear. He nodded in response and stayed silent through the rest of the feast.

Meanwhile, Alpha and Beta were brooding over their loss outside the stadium. "Get that sign," commanded Alpha. "We won't need it anymore." Beta nodded, but hesitated. Alpha walked over and asked what was taking him so long and Beta responded, "Take a close look at what the sign says."

Although it took him a while, Alpha chuckled and Beta soon joined him.

Back inside the stadium, dinner was finished and Christian and Dyveke had already retired for the night. Toren left for bed, but before Tira could follow, Zatana interrupted her.

"You know," she started, "you showed some remarkable skill with that ring blade earlier today. Have you ever used one before?"

"Never," Tira responded. "I don't know what came over be today. The second I grabbed that ring blade it was like I was a master."

Zatana though long and hard until she said, "Tira, you have some real potential. Follow me to the training room. We'll train all night until you're as skilled as me."

Tira immediately accepted Zatana's generous proposal and soon followed her to a large training room. Zatana spun around, throwing the ring blade to Tira yelled, "Catch." Tira successfully caught the ring blade and was happy with herself until she saw Zatana shaking her head."

"What?" she asked. "Did I make a mistake already?"

Zatana nodded as she continued, "If that were a real ring blade, you would have impaled your hand with the blade." Tira was soon disappointed in herself for making such a foolish mistake until Zatana cheered her up saying, Relax. You're learning." Tira nodded and the training began.

Hours passed seemingly without end to Tira. Her endurance was seriously being tested and so was her skill. Zatana was relentless in her training and Tira expected no less from the master.

Zatana decided to go for a quick break at about 2:00 A.M. and Tira wasted no time in asking, "When did you learn to wield a ring blade like that?"

Well," started Zatana, "It was standard issue back in my assassins guild before it was dissolved. It was called The Swarm of Shadows." Tira's complexion turned instantly white as Zatana asked, "What's wrong? Have you heard of them?" Tira shook her head, but that was a lie.

The Bird of Passage and Swarm of Shadows were rival assassin guilds. A war between the two guilds erupted not to long ago. The battles were fierce and bloodshed was everywhere, but the Bird of Passage narrowly won the war only 10 years ago. Although Tira was never present at any of the battles, she was taught that the Swarm of Shadows' members were ruthless and that all remaining members should be killed if any member of the Bird of Passage were to ever come across one. Were the Bird of Passage to find out that Tira let a member of the Swarm of Shadows live, Tira would be charged with treason and with every assassins guild in the world, the penalty for treason was death.

"Anyways," continued Zatana, "After the Bird of Passage ruthlessly tore apart my guild, I found myself wandering the streets until Alpha and Beta found me and decided to utilize my skills for profit." Tira didn't respond and Zatana said, "That's enough chatting, let's get back to training." Tira nodded and the rest of the night, Tira and Zatana training in total silence.

Morning came as Tira and Zatana completed their training. "Well," started Zatana, "you're not as good as me but you're defiantly skilled. Tira smiled as the two walked up to see Alpha and Beta grinning ear to ear as they ate their gourmet breakfast.

"Oh Tira," said Alpha. "Could you go get your brother? I want you both here when I tell you something." Tira nodded, but was suspicious. Minutes later, a sleep-deprived Tira and a still half-asleep Toren stumbled out of the hallway."

"Now that you're both here, I'd like to present you with your prize from the match the other day." Beta tossed a small bag over to Tira. Tira opened it expectantly, but was shocked to see only 50 gold.

"WHAT IS THIS?" barked Tira.

"That?" said Alpha sarcastically. "That's you prize money! You see, you knocked Zatana off the platform in less than one minute and the sign out front clearly states that you have to survive five minutes in the ring."

"This is just one of your dirty tricks," stated Toren. "I'm sure King Christian will agree with us."

"I'm sure he would," interrupted Beta. "Too bad he had to leave for the capital on 'important issues'." Alpha and Beta snickered as Tira and Toren began getting infuriated.

Now," since King Christian shut us down, all three of you are trespassing on private property, so leave!"

Tira, Toren, and Zatana were shoved off the property. Toren stared at the 50 gold as Tira asked Zatana, "So, what do you plan to do now?"

Well, I'll enter tournaments. With my skill, I'll be rich in no time." Tira nodded and wished Zatana the best as Tira and Toren neared their destination.

The twins were happy to turn the familiar corner that lead to the Bird of Passage headquarters, but their glee turned into shock unto witnessing what had conspired at the headquarters.


	6. The Evil Seed

Chapter 6: The Evil Seed

Tira and Toren ran to the base entrance to see that guards and sentries were posted all along any and all entrance points. Tira immediately recognized one of the guards and ran over to him asked frantically, "Jakob, what's going on?" Jakob continued to face forward without even glancing at Tira as he replied, "About two days ago, a mysterious rock was found out in the woods by our leader. It cased him to go insane just yesterday and the end result was not pretty."

"Is he alright?" Tira asked.

"No," Jakob replied. "He's dead. We've been put on high alert in case of an attack. Our main suspect is of course the Swarm of Shadows, but don't have any confirmation as of yet." Tira hesitated before asking, "Where's the rock now?"

"The mystery rock is currently behind held in the safe box in the lower level protection room. The Swarm of Shadows—or who ever put the rock in the forest—is never going to get their rock back," Jakob replied, still facing forward as if Tira wasn't even there. Toren walked up to Jakob and asked, "Can we see it?"

"I'm afraid not," Jakob replied. "The rock's on high security and clearance has been denied to everyone. As a matter of fact, I'm on guard duty tonight." Toren pulled Tira away so Jakob and the other sentries couldn't hear him as he whispered, "Did you sense it?"

Tira nodded in agreement as she added, "Whatever that rock is, I sense the same evil that resonated from the castle." The twins returned to where Jakob was standing and pulled him away from the other. "What's going on?"

"Listen," Toren said. "Listen carefully. That rock is evil. It's possessed the leader and it will only get stronger. We need you to destroy it before it destroys the Bird of Passage."

"Hrm," Jakob mumbled carefully. "Since when do you two care about what happens to other people's fate?"

Toren chuckled before responding, "I don't kill if I don't get paid for it."

"Yeah," Tira added, "and if the Bird of Passage is eliminated, I won't be able to kill anymore, and ever since this last trip, I fell like I need to kill to survive."

"Well," Jakob murmured. "Your story makes sense, but it's not protocol for me to destroy it without any solid proof." Tira shook her head in disappointment as she responded, "I knew it. You believe us, but you're too by-the-book to help us. That's going to lead to your death sooner than you think." Jakob was shocked into silence before returning to his post. Tira turned to Toren and continued, "We can expect no help from Jakob, so let's plan on how to get down there ourselves. Toren nodded in agreement as the twins remained outside to plan.

Hours passed and Tira and Toren felt they had a foolproof plan. "Okay," Tira said. "Let's see if we've got it. We'll be able to walk pass the guards until after the ladder. Then we'll drop a sleep bomb down the shaft and go down the ladder unnoticed. Last I was there, there were metal bars beyond that point, but there also was a fake wall for escape. We'll use the fake wall to go around the bars and continue to the door. We'll ram it down and knock out the Jakob. We'll destroy the rock and leave without a trace." Toren nodded as they waited until dark to execute their plan.

Tira and Toren walked without any suspicion passed the main guards and the guards stationed in the hallway. Toren passed the corner and tossed the sleeping bomb down the shaft. After a couple of seconds of coughing and dropping, all the guards in the lower lever were asleep. Tira and Toren hopped down the shaft and proceeded to the metal bars barring their path. Tira began to knock on the wall, but failed to find the fake wall. Toren tried, but me with the same results.

"Can't find the fake wall, huh," said a familiar voice. Tira and Toren spun around to see Jakob was standing on the other side of the bars.

Tira's eyes widened before responding, "If there's no fake wall, how'd you get in?"

Jakob chuckled before responding, "When you left, the wall plastered and a ladder was installed to go directly into the safe room. There's no need for the fake wall anymore, but there is a fake bar, but it's only accessible from this side."

Toren stepped forward and asked, "So are you going to let us in?"

"What's in it for me?"

Tira stared right into Jakob's eyes and replied, "Your life." Jakob was clearly frightened and immediately pulled out eh false bar. Tira and Toren squeezed through and followed Jakob to safe room. "So," Toren asked, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I don't want to die." Jakob replied. "I'm selfish and anything I can do to prolong my life, including breaking the rules, I'll do." Toren smirked but Tira hadn't even looked at him. The threesome entered the safe room and Jakob said, "Destroy the rock and get out. I don't want to be implicated if you're wrong."

Tira walked up and pulled out her kunai. Tira moved her hand, but hesitated. Toren was confused, but Jakob hadn't noticed. Tira swung her kunai at the rock, but stopped her hand right in front of the rock. Tira hesitated again, this time for a whole minute.

Jakob moved forward and tapped Tira in the shoulder, and Tira spun around and stabbed Jakob in the stomach. Jakob fell to the ground as Toren jumped and attempted to restrain her. Tira easily pushed Toren off her. Toren managed to get up and stare into Tira's eyes. Toren knew Tira was in a blind rampage and he could do nothing to stop her.

Tira moved back into the main building and proceeded to kill the guards on duty. Other guards and assassins came to try and restrain Tira, but all attempt met with death. Toren could only look on helplessly as his sister continued to take to building apart piece by piece.

Back downstairs, Jakob was still holding on to life and slowly climbed up the ladder with blood still dripping down onto the floor and the kunai still impaled in his stomach. Jakob managed to get to the main hallway where the hall was deadly silent. "Where is everyone?" Jakob continued to crawl to the door, but soon found out that the door was on the other side of the building and he new that the one thing between him and freedom was a maniac with a kunai named Tira.

Toren searched the headquarters for something to calm Tira down, but his search came up empty. Toren continued to search as Tira continued to kill the assassins in the building. It was clear to Toren that Tira wasn't slowing down. In fact, she seemed to be speeding up, as if she was gaining power and energy from killings. Toren began to think ad took out a piece of paper and began to write.

Meanwhile, Jakob was able to climb the stairs to the second floor. "Let's see," he whispered to himself. "If I can manage to get to the window, I can jump out and run off. Jakob continued to walk across the hallway only to hear the cries of a baby from inside a nearby room. "I can't. It's my life and I can't let some baby get in my way." Jakob continued to walk, but failed to ignore the cries. Jakob walked back and picked up the baby. Jakob continued to walk to the window and managed to jump out, but broke his leg on impact. Jakob ignored the pain and continued to limp and spun around to see Tira exit the base. Jakob continued to limp until he saw a woman pass by. Jakob limped over to her and said, "Take this baby and keep her away from that girl over there."

The woman was clearly shocked as she asked, "and who are you?"

Jakob handed the baby to the woman before answering, "I'm someone who lived his life incorrectly and is going to end it right. I'll hold her off, you just run and keep him safe." The woman nodded and began to run. Tira noticed her and began to chance, but stopped her pursuit when Jakob through the kunai that was previously in his stomach.

Jakob took out another kunai and rushed Tira. Tira withdrew her kunai and blocked Jakob attack. Tira retaliated with an attempt at Jakob's stomach, but failed. Jakob back flipped over Tira and attempted to stab her in the back, but Tira stun around and blocked the attack. Jakob stared in amazement, as he whispered, "No way. No one is that fast. Whatever's possessing Tira, it's not human." Jakob went in for another attempt, but fell form his leg injury before he reached his target. Tira walked up and stabbed Jakob in the stomach until he stopped moving.

Tira spun around, but saw that the woman with the baby was nowhere to be found. Tira yelled extremely loudly, and began to attack the trees until she fell unconscious.

Tira awoke to a dreaded sunlight and knew that hours had passed since she fell unconscious. She didn't remember exactly what she did, but she knew it was bad. Tira sat up to see a note on her shirt, or what was left of it, in Toren's handwriting. It read.

_Tira, you may not remember what happened, but you've killed all the members of the Copenhagen Bird of Passage chapter. What I didn't tell you before, but probably should have, is that the other chapters had already found similar rocks to the one we found, and similar massacres occurred. The only difference is, in the other massacres, no one survived._

_Also, I've figured out what the rock was. It's called the Evil Seed. It's the same material of the castle in Ostrheinburg. Something tells me that the old man wasn't truthful when he said he decided not to kill us. I think his plan was to implant the Evil Seed in your mind and activate it with the rock when he's miles away and free from harm. My guess is that Cervantes knew that the Bird of Passage would be a thorn in his side so he ordered the destruction of all of the Bird of Passage chapters. Trust me, if I ever come across that old man, I'll take him down myself._

_There's also something else. I haven't got confirmation of this, but I've gotten word that the rocks of Evil Seed rained down after the battle between Cervantes and someone else called Siegfried Schtauffen. The details are blurry, but it would seem that Cervantes lost. _

_Finally, you're probably wondering why I'm not telling you this in person. Well, because there are still members of the Swarm of Shadows still exist, and if they find out that only two members still exist, they'll kill us faster than you can pull out your kunai. If we were to stay together, the Swarm of Shadows would track us down and that's not what he was. So as far as everyone knows, Tira and Toren aren't related, and they don't even know each other. Goodbye, Tira, and remember, I'll always be your brother and I'll always love you._

Tira shed a tear as she put the note away. Tira stood upand began to walk into town. Tira continued to walk as she mumbled. "I have no family and I have no life, and if I can't be happy, no one can."


	7. A New Mission

Chapter 7: A New Mission

Three weeks had passed since the destruction of the Bird of Passage and Tira had continued to travel. She didn't know where she was going; all she knew is that she was escaping the memory of what she had caused.

Tira could feel her humanity begin to slip and she wasn't sure if she should try and regain her humanity or succumb to the evil within her. Tira continued to travel south after deciding she would go after Cervantes by herself.

Tira arrived in a small village 50 miles south of Copenhagen, where she managed to kill the owner of an inn and get a room. What Tira didn't realize is that a dark-skinned man wearing robes was sitting at a nearby table the whole time. The man helped himself to a room as well and waited until morning for Tira to exit her room.

The following morning, Tira awoke to see the mysterious man was leaning on the door inside her room. Tira's insanity kicked in and launched an attack on the man, who simply caught her arm, and threw her against the floor. Tira tried again and was met with the same response. Tira began to calm down, but not before launching another attack on the man. This time, the man didn't even flinch as Tira's attack missed by only a centimeter.

The man chuckled before saying; "Now that you have that out of your system, allow me to introduce myself. I am Zasalamel." Tira picked herself up and grumbled, "I've never heard of you."

"Of course not," Zasalamel replied, "but I've heard of you."

"What do you want?"

"Death," Zasalamel replied calmly, "but what I ask of you is a little easier. I need Soul Edge. Last time I tried to get it, I wound up being a slave the evil in the sword. You, on the other hand, are beginning to lose your humanity, so you should be able to wield Soul Edge, at least for a moment."

"I know where Soul Edge is, and you're not getting it," Tira retorted.

"Oh contraire," Zasalamel replied. "You think you know where Soul Edge is. You think the reneged pirate Cervantes has it, but you're wrong. Cervantes was defeated three years ago."

"That's a lie!" Tira screamed as she launched another attack. This time, Zasalamel pulled out a scythe and blocked her attack. Zasalamel made Tira stare directly into his eye and said, "If you don't believe me, see for yourself."

Zasalamel's left eye, which appeared to be pure gold, began to be shrouded in smoke, which soon dispersed, revealing a man with long blond hair hold a sword, which was clearly Soul Edge. The smoke came back and dispersed to show the same man with the sword now infused together with Soul Edge. The smoke came and left to show the same man wearing blue armor and placing an equally eerie helmet on his head. The smoke came once again and disappeared and left the eye blank.

Zasalamel stepped back and said, "Siegfried Schtauffen." Tira groan in confusion as Zasalamel repeated, "Siegfried Schtauffen. That is the name of the man you just saw. He took Soul Edge after the defeat of Cervantes three years ago. The final scene you saw took place only a month ago. Although he is new in the slaughter scene, he has already been dubbed the Azure Knight, Nightmare."

Tira was in shock as Zasalamel continued, "The power of Soul Edge is great. It controlled me until my death and it will control Siegfried until his. Luckily for him, he doesn't have the curse of reincarnation." Zasalamel turned to Tira and said, "What I ask of you is simple. Retrieve for me Soul Edge and perhaps the power can kill me once and for all."

Tira remained silent for what seemed like hours until she asked, "A man that has no family and kills mercilessly?" Zasalamel nodded as Tira said, "Finally, someone just like me."

Zasalamel shook his head and said, "I can not allow you to posses the sword. If you will not retrieve the sword for me, them you shall die."

Zasalamel charged with his scythe as Tira back flipped out of the way. Tira managed to jump out of the two-story window with Zasalamel levitating out the window and begin to follow her. Zasalamel attempted another charge, but miss again. Tira took out her shuriken and began to throw them at Zasalamel. Zasalamel blocked the shuriken with ease with his scythe and began to charge again. Tira hopped up and grabbed a branch, but Zasalamel, sliced down the tree with ease, causing Tira to hop to another tree. Zasalamel cut that one down and Tira hopped to another tree. This continued for about ten minutes until Tira began to tire and saw that she was out of trees.

Tira attempted to hop to another tree, but it was too far and began to descend. Zasalamel positioned his scythe so that Tira would fall on it when a mysterious smoke covered Tira as someone grabbed Tira. Tira felt her feet touch ground and as the smoke cleared, she saw a familiar face right before it was covered in another blanket of smoke. Tira ran to the smoke, buts aw that he was no longer there as Tira whispered, "Toren."

Tira looked around and that Zasalamel was no longer around. In fact, Tira was back in Copenhagen. Tira sat down and whispered to herself, "Zasalamel. Is what he said true? Does the Azure Knight really exist?" Tira had to find out.

Three days passed and the stories of Cervantes began to dwindle as the stories of the Azure Knight began to rise. Zasalamel was telling the truth, and Tira knew that she had found her calling.

One week passed and the stories of Nightmare continued to circulate. In particular stayed in Tira's mind. Two men were slaking on their jobs as blacksmiths. One tall and fat the other with a long beard. The heavyset man sat down and said, "So the Azure Knight is nearby?"

"That's just speculation," the other man replied. "The last confirmed spotting of Nightmare was in someplace called Ostrheinburg." Tira was shocked as the heavyset man continued. "That was three days ago, and Nightmare's path clearly shows his traveling north."

Tira's insanity kicked in and didn't wait for the rest of the conversation. Tira immediately killed the bearded man as the fat man began to crawl away. Tira jumped on top of the heavyset man, as he pleaded, "Please don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want!"

Tira chuckled before replying, "You've already given me what I want." Tira subsequently killed the man. Tira left the bodies on the ground and began to walk out as she grumbled, "Next stop, Ostrheinburg Castle."

The following day, Tira began to travel south, but felt as if she was being followed. Tira expected Zasalamel, but started to hear more than one set of footsteps. The number of footsteps increased to five, ten, and soon there were so many that they couldn't have been counted.

Tira attempted to ignore the sounds, but couldn't once about fifty Danish soldiers stepped out of the trees. The commander, a balding man in his mid-forties, came out and yelled, "Tira! By the order of King Christian II, you are under arrest!" The soldiers began to charge Tira as Tira's insanity began to slaughter them one by one. The commander took out his lance and began to charge Tira. Tira noticed the lance, but was too preoccupied to notice it.

The commander changed his attack at the last second and instead of killing Tira, rendered her unconscious.


	8. A Family

Chapter 8: A Family

Tira awoke in a small, 7 by 7 dungeon and could clearly hear two voices outside, two voices that were vaguely familiar. Tira scrambled up and wobbled over to the barred window in the door. Tira was ready to cut the bars off, but realized that she was unarmed. Tira looked out and saw King Christian II speaking with the troop commander.

"I just don't think it's a good idea," Christian complained. "Last I saw her she had some insane tendencies. Although I never thought she was capable of this, she clearly is and must be kept locked up, at least for now."

"My King," the commander retorted, "I understand your concern, but I am a trained warrior, and if it makes you fell any better, she will be watch around the clock by no less than five soldiers trained in secretive surveillance."

"I don't know, Viktor," Christian replied. "Sounds okay, but how does Driese feel about this?"

"She doesn't care," Viktor replied. "She always said she could use some help in the garden." Viktor began to chuckle but Christian seemed to miss the humor. Christian began to walk off until Viktor grabbed his shoulder and said, "At least think about it."

Christian nodded and replied, "I will, but don't get your hopes up." Viktor soon followed the King out of the room as Tira sighed. Tira then noticed that there was a guard standing outside of the door. "What where they talking about," Tira asked.

The guard didn't answer and Tira repeated herself. The guard once again remained silent. Tira was getting aggravated and asked once again, trying to keep her anger inside. Again, there was silence and Tira kicked the door, causing the guard to trip over himself.

"The guard managed to collect himself and looked into the room and asked, "If I tell you, will you shut up?" Tira nodded as the guard continued, "There talking about putting you under the care of the troop commander, Viktor." Tira was shocked as the guard explained. "It's actually quite common. People volunteer to take in an insane inmate and raise him or her into a working member of society."

Tira sat down and mumbled to herself, "A family. I could be part of a family?" Tira's mind boggled as the pieces of sanity that she had thought she had lost were popping back. Hours passed as Tira continued to think about the possibility of being in a family until the dungeon door swung open and there stood King Christian and Viktor.

Two guards came from behind the walls and grabbed both of Tira's arms and dragged her outside. King Christian bent down to Tira and said, "I'm sorry that we had to meet again like this Tira, but I have good news. Viktor here is willing to raise you as one of his own."

Tira was speechless as Viktor elaborated. "Mind you, you will not be given to royal treatment. You will have to pull your weight around in the house, and looking at you, you don't have that much weight."

"A family?" Tira asked, seemingly ignoring what Christian and Viktor had said. Christian and Viktor nodded as Viktor continued. "Until I can be sure that you won't revert to your old ways, you will be monitored at all times, even if you don't know it." Tira continued to stare at Viktor as she asked again, "A family?"

Viktor nodded again as he smiled. He turned to King Christian as he said, "I don't think she's listening. Maybe her choice of vocabulary will expand if she meets the rest of the family." The two guards once again began to drag her as she asked, "A family?"

Tira was shoved into the back of a horse-drawn carriage and was silent for the entire trip until the horse stopped at a lavish, two-story house. Tira stepped out and saw a slender woman in a flower dress organizing her flowerbed, which was just as varied in colors as her dress was.

It's odd," Tira mumbled to herself. "If I was here a year ago, actually, if I was here a month ago, I would kill them both on the spot, but now I don't want to. Why? I know. It's because I'm part of A FAMILY!"

Tira failed to notice her increase in voice volume until The two people in the front yard, not to mention the other people passing by in the street began to stare at her. Viktor shrugged and walked over to his wife. After a few seconds of talking, the woman came over and extended her hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Tira. My name is Driese." Tira looked at her extended hand. She knew she was supposed to shake it, but had never been offered to in her life. Tira reluctantly shook Driese's hand and looked at her as she smiled.

Driese returned to her flowerbed and continued to stare at it as if she was waiting for them to organize themselves. Viktor led Tira into the house and up the stairs as he said, "Since your clothes show that you were clearly raised in a barn, I think a change of wardrobe is in order."

Viktor led Tira into a large walk-in closet full of red dresses. Tira thought they were tacky, but she didn't care, because it her family was giving it to her. Tira looked at the clothing as Viktor said, "Now I know that there isn't much of a choice in wardrobe, but-"

"I love it," Tira interrupted. Viktor was shocked that Tira knew other words than just "a family," but was even more surprised that a girl deemed insane could have so deeply defined human emotions.

Viktor nodded and said, "I'm glad you do. Now how about the rest of the tour." Tira nodded in agreement and said. "Give me a minute. I'll be right with you." Viktor nodded and stepped outside of the closet. Tira looked around the closet and said to herself before stepping out of the closet, "I just hope Toren is having as good of a time as I am."

Viktor led Tira on the tour of the rest of the house. Viktor led Tira back down the staircase into the ballroom and through a door to the left, which lead to the lavish kitchen. Through the next door was a large table. Viktor led Tira back through the kitchen and through the ballroom and through a door on the right. The room was full of awards and trophies.

"Are these yours? Asked Tira. Viktor chuckled as he shook his head and replied, "No, there all from Driese as her award winning flowerbed. You see, Driese always wanted a daughter to follow in her footsteps and I wanted a son to follow in mine. I won ten years ago and our son Brendan was born."

"So I have a brother?" Tira interrupted. Viktor nodded and continued, "He's not here right now, but he'll be back later." Tira followed Viktor back up the stairs but instead of going right to her room, followed him left down the hallway. Viktor pointed out the first room on the left as Brendan's room and the first door to the right as his room. Tira saw something handing on the wall behind glass next to the door of his room that blew Tira's mind.

"Is that a ring blade?" Tira asked in anticipation. Viktor nodded and looked at the ring blade hanging on the wall. "Ah, you mean Aiselne Drossel. It's a family heirloom, well, not my family, Driese's family. She's a master at it, but I never got the jist of it."

Tira ignored most of what Viktor said and put her hand on the glass and whispered, "Aiselne Drossel…" Viktor was confused, but he expected confusion from her. Viktor glanced across the hallway and said, "You know, this ring blade has a very interesting story attached to it-" Viktor paused after hearing Driese call him. Viktor turned to Tira and said, "But that's another story for another day. Right now, I have to go."

Viktor left, leaving Tira to stare at the ring blade. As Tira stared at the ring blade, she could feel the pieces of humanity drift away from her. Tira turned her back on the ring blade and said to herself, "No, that was my old life. This is my new life. My life with a family."


	9. The Secret of the Ring Blade

Chapter 9: The Secret of the Ring Blade

The day soon turned to night in Tira's new home. Brendan, the family's ten year old son, although the same height as Tira, had arrived home. Brendan looked at Tira as if he knew she was coming, but didn't say a word to her.

Tira continued to pass the ring blade throughout the day, remembering that Viktor had said there was an interesting story behind it. Tira couldn't help it. After minutes of staring at it, Tira managed to remove the glass and pick up Aiselne Drossel. "Pretty," she mumbled to herself.

"I'm glad you like it," came Brendan's voice from his room, "because it's mine. Driese is training me to be the master, not you."

After realized that Brendan calls him parents by their first names, Tira thought, _"This little spoiled brat isn't worthy of wielding a ring blade."_

Brendan was tired of waiting for Tira to respond and took the ring blade from Tira's hand and placed it back on the wall. Brendan walked back to his room and whispered to himself, "I bet she doesn't even know how to use a ring blade."

Tira had the sudden urge to destroy him, but the fact that he was part of the family kept her in restraint. Tira went to her room and looked out the window to see that Viktor was still talking to Driese. Tira was curious, and decided hop out the window. "What's up?" she asked.

Driese, seemingly ignoring the fact that Tira hopped out a two-story window, stopped talking to her husband and turned to Tira and said, "It's this year's best garden contest. Stralingaard, last year runner-up, says he has an ace-in-the-hole for this year's competition. I've been trying to figure out a way to make my garden better, but I just can't think of any."

"Try chrysanthemums," Tira suggested without thinking. Tira's mind froze. _"Did I say that?" _she thought. _"Me, Tira. Did I just give flowering arrangement tips? No way." _After a long silence, Driese spoke up saying, "Yeah. Chrysanthemums are red, so they'd seemingly clash with the roses, but if I group them with the tiger lilies, it will be perfect. Stralingaard will never know what hit him! Thank you Tira! You like the daughter I've always wanted!"

Tira was rather pleased with herself. Sure, she wasn't killing, but she was still happy nonetheless, a feeling she thought she could never acquire. After Driese returned to organizing the garden. Viktor stepped over and said, "If I remember correctly, I promised you a history lesson Aiselne Drossel. Follow me."

Tira followed Viktor to the ring blade. Viktor removed the ring blade from its place and began to speak. Tira could see Brendan was also listening from his door as well. "The story takes place long ago. The year is 421 B.C. Driese's ancestor was drafted into the Peloponnesian War. Battle after battle, he barely escaped until the battle of Aegospotami, when he found a discarded ring blade. Using that, he managed to survive the war, although the ring blade was lost. That is, until 149 B.C., when another of Driese's ancestors was drafted into a war, the Third Punic War to be exact. During one of the battles, he found the exact ring blade his ancestor had lost years ago."

Tira eyes widened as Viktor continued, "Once again, though, the rig blade that saved his life was once again lost. Over a millennium later, the story of the ring blade had been passed down through her family, until the Hundred Years' War began and once again the ring blade was found among the bodies during one of the battles by another of Driese's ancestors." Brendan scoffed as Viktor ignored him and continued, "He fought bravely with the ring blade, but soon was considered to old to continue fighting and was forced into retirement and the ring blade was lost until 1574." Tira recognized the year as her birth year, but decided not to bring it up.

"Driese's brother was drafted into the Eighty Years' War after moving to Holland and once again found the ring blade during a battle. Driese's brother was a true believer of the stories, so instead of risking it getting lost, he had it sent hear, where it has remained ever since." Tira was dumbfounded. Viktor smiled and asked, "There was one thing in common with all of the these fighter, and all of Driese's male ancestors. Do you know what it is?" Tira had no clue. She began to guess; birthday, hair color, eye color, city of birth, but they were all wrong.

Brendan was getting rather annoyed and interrupted. "Their name!" he yelled. Viktor gave Brendan a look, but didn't reprimand him for giving away the answer. "Correct," Viktor began. "All of Driese's ancestors were named Brendan."

Tira then shifted her eyes towards Brendan who continued to look on with disinterest. Tira could tell that Brendan had no respect for the history of Aiselne Drossel, and he should wield it unless he did. "Although," Viktor continued, "the ring blade was found among the wreckage of the battle of Aegospotami, where it came from before that is unknown to this day.

"Not true," Brendan interrupted. "My uncle bought it from a silversmith to coincide with the legend that my grandfather made up." Tira smiled faded as Brendan continued to badmouth the ring blade, and what made her even more angered is the fact that Viktor did nothing to stop him. _"I can't believe it," _Tira thought. _"This little brat has no respect for ring blades and Viktor's not doing anything."_ Tira could feel her left hand curl up, but loosened it. Brendan slammed the door to his room and Viktor left downstairs.

The day ended and the next day, Tira awoke early and sat in front of Aiselne Drossel. Tira continued to stare at the ring blade and remember the story told by Viktor, as well as the inconsiderate rantings on Brendan. Tira stared at the ring blade until Driese came running out of her room and down the stairs. Tira followed.

"Driese!" Tira yelled, failing together attention as she ran out the door. Tira dashed out the door and followed her. Tira managed to catch up to Driese at an open-air flower market. "Tira," she said in minor shock, "I'm glad you're here. I've realized the chrysanthemums will go perfect with the tiger lilies, but that would leave the roses with no color coordination. I need something to coincide with the roses. Tira, take the left side and I'll take the right." Driese ran of leaving Tira to mumble to herself, "I can't believe that I understood every word of that."

Tira wandered over to the left in search of the perfect flower until a familiar face appeared in the crowd. "Toren!" she yelled as she pushed through the crowd. Tira made it through, but there was no sign of Toren. Tira continued to walk until she saw his face again, this time, Tira didn't chase it and it disappeared as soon as it came. Tira tried to ignore it until she found tulips that worked perfectly with the roses. Although she didn't know how she knew that, Tira returned home with Driese.

Days passed and thanks to Tira, Driese won the best garden award again. Tira was happy. Months passed and Toren continued to appear. Tira continued to dismiss them as just part of her old life and as the months passed, Tira began to repress her memories until the disappeared. Tira had just turned seventeen and had successfully forgotten about, Logan, Zatana, the old man, and even the Bird of Passage and the massacre. Even Toren had become a distant memory. Tira continued to help Driese with her garden, and resent Brendan for his lack of knowledge on Aiselne Drossel, even though he showed mastery of its technique.

Tira enjoyed her life with Viktor and Driese, even though they never lifted a finger to punish Brendan, who Tira managed to tolerate, but as Tira would soon find out, not all good things last forever.


	10. Bloodlust

Chapter 10: Bloodlust

Tira was relaxing in the garden, as she had done for every morning for the past four years. I t relaxed her, not just because the aroma was calming, but because Brendan hated flowers and never bothered her while she relaxed in it.

With Tira's help, Driese had managed to win the best garden award six years straight, a new record. Tira was relaxing comfortably, until an unpleasant shadow blocked her sun. "Hey blueberry head," Brendan began; referencing Tira's newly dyed blue hair.

"Stay away," Tira started, "You annoy me."

"Trust me," Brendan continued. "The feeling's mutual, and if I didn't have to, I would even be in this poisonous odor of flowers talking to the bane of my existence."

Tira sighed and said, "You know, if you're trying to ask for my help, insulting flowers and denying the past of Aiselne Drossel is not the way. Regardless, I'd rather do business with a horse's ass."

"Point taken," Brendan replied. "But I do need your assistance. You see, I have a "contact" of mine that lives about five miles south from here, and he was supposed to go to Ostrheinburg to pick up some "supplies" for my business. The problem is he's picked them up, but abruptly stopped returning messages after a run-in with a weirdo with a wooden arm

"So just send one of your other contacts." Tira suggested angrily.

"I did," Brendan began, "and they never got back, and since I don't care about your life or well-being, you'd be perfect for the job."

"Beat it, twerp," Tira replied irefully. "I couldn't care less about your problems."

"I figured you'd say that," Brendan replied, "so if you do this, I'll let you use Aiselne Drossel, and if you come home successful, you can have it." Tira instantly stood up, partly intrigued by Brendan's offer. Tira would always spend most of her day watching irefully at Brendan practicing, wishing it could be her standing there.

Tira stood contemplating her decision as Brendan stood in front of her with the ring blade resting on his outstretched hands. Tira gave Brendan a hateful stare before taking the ring blade from his hands and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Good," Brendan said as he smirked. "The other contact of mine that was with him claim the encounter happened near the chapel straight south." Tira groaned in agreement and began to walk off.

After an hour of uneventful walking ended as Tira arrived at the deserted chapel. "Okay!" she yelled. "Anyone here?"

Although there was no answer, there was obvious movement near the other end of the chapel. Tira began to run and managed to pin a curly-haired man against the wall. "Who are you?" he insisted.

"Not important," Tira said in a low demanding voice. "The question is who are you, who do you work for, and were are the supplies." The man continued to groan in pain until Tira yelled, "ANSWER ME!"

The man groaned before replying, "My name is Kordin, but I am bound by my will not to reveal my master's name."

"Fair enough," Tira said, loosening her grip, but not releasing him. "But if you could just hand over Brendan's supplies so I can just go home, we could leave with our lives."

You work for Brendan," Kordin mumbled in shock. "How much are you willing to risk to retrieve these supplies?" Tira glanced over at the ring blade hanging on her left shoulder before replying, "My life."

Kordin raised his legs and kicked Tira in her stomach. Tira wobbled up to see Kordin with a katana in hand ready to fight. Tira tossed the ring blade to her right hand and began to charge. Kordin managed to block as he put the katana in front of his face. Now, it was a test of strength as Tira and Kordin pushed back and forth.

Meanwhile, Zasalamel stood on the roof, watching the battle through the skylight. "As easy as it would be to kill them myself," Zasalamel said to himself, "having Tira kill a member of Yoshimitsu's clan would have him kill Tira for me, or vice versa. As long as I'm the only one left, I can have Soul Edge."

Zasalamel continued to watch the fight until a nearby conversation between a man and his wife caught his ear. "I'm telling you," the man said. "My brother lives in Ostrheinburg, and he sent a messenger to the house to say that a man named Raphael was going to defeat the Azure Knight. If he was right, they should be fighting as we speak."

Zasalamel turned back to fight as he whispered to himself, "If Raphael does managed to defeat Nightmare by a stroke of luck, Soul Edge would be destroyed, and I can't have that. As soon as I know the outcome of this battle, I'll head out."

Tira continued to stay locked in the same position until lessening her strength and ducking as Kordin swung his katana over her head. Tira swung the ring blade at his legs, but he easily jumped over it and over Tira and landed behind her. Tira stood up as Kordin began to charge at Tira. Tira held the ring blade in front of her until Kordin's katana began to go through it. Tira spun the ring blade around until Kordin dropped the katana.

Kordin gazed at his dropped katana laying beside Tira as she gripped her ring blade and began to charge at him. Kordin ducked, but Tira charged her attack and impaled the ring blade into the ground and swung through it, kicking Kordin and launching him into the air. Tira removed the ring blade from the floor and flung it like a Frisbee, instantly killing him as it impaled him against the wall.

Zasalamel smirked as he continued to watch from the skylight as he said to himself, "Good. She's fueled her need for bloodlust and it should be only a matter of time until she begins to kill as she used to."

Tira climbed the wall and removed Aiselne Drossel from Kordin's lifeless body as she saw, off the corner of her eye, Zasalamel hoping off the roof and begin to walk of into the sunset. Tira didn't remember him, but felt that she had seen him somewhere. Tira left his body litter the grounds as she pursued Zasalamel, only to find that he had disappeared and a note remained in his place.

Tira groaned as she picked up the note and read:

_The beginning of the end has begun for you, Tira. Now, it's only a matter of time…_

Tira crumpled up the note and began to walk home to see Brendan was waiting outside the house with a disappointed look on his face. "How unfortunate." Brendan said. "It would appear that you failed to complete what a asked, but because I'm in such a good mood, I'm not going to care."

"As much as I hate to ask," Tira began, "I'm curious. What's making you so happy."

"This," Brendan said as he revealed an injured raven from underneath his jacket. "Driese found it limping around town today. She named it Kamisade, but I call it stupid. Do you know why I call it stupid? Of course you don't because you're just as stupid. Stupid here is so stupid that it can't fly. How stupid!" Tira began to grasp the ring blade, and Brendan noticed.

"By the way," he said as he grabbed the ring blade, "Since you didn't retrieve the supplies, this still belongs to me." Tira didn't let go immediately, but eventually loosened her grip. Brendan smirked before returning back into the house.

Tira stared irefully at the door until a little red ball bounced off her head. Tira turned around to see Toren resting in a tree smiling while holding another little red ball.


	11. Parting is Such Sweet Happiness

Chapter 11: Parting is Such Sweet Happiness

"I know," Toren said as he dropped from the tree and approached the speechless Tira. "I look awesome. I cut my hair short, I'm about two inches taller than you, and-"

"And you're not Toren," Tira interrupted. Toren smiled and nodded before replying, "True, I'm not Toren, but that was an easy guess. The hard part is figuring out who I really am." Tira was getting irritated. Tira closed her eyes and rushed at Toren, but ran into the tree. Tira opened her eyes to see Toren was now resting in the garden.

"Well," Toren began as he stood back up, "now that you've got that out of your system, would you like to try and guess who am I?" Tira curled her hand into a fist and once again rushed Toren. Toren yawned and ducked the punch, causing Tira to trip. Tira stood up to see that Toren was no back in the tree.

"Okay," he began. "Clearly you're never going to figure it out, so I'll tell you. I'm not Toren, I'm you." Tira remain confused as Toren began to explain. You see, your good side and your bad side have never seen eye to eye. In order to keep your good side alive, part of it was transferred into Toren, so that anytime you were with him, you could never become completely evil."

Tira loosened her fists as she sat down. Toren nodded before continuing. "You see, Tira, you're not normal. You are destined for great things, things you can't do if you're evil. When you were exposed to the evil seed, it seemed that hope was lost. The evil seed had corrupted pat of your mind, you home was destroyed, and worst of all, Toren, the only thing keeping your evil side from destroying me, your good side, left to protect you."

"I feared for my existence and even worse, I feared for the existence of mankind. You began to kill mercilessly, even worse than before. This was clearly the work of the evil seed and I thought nothing could bring you back into balance, that is, until Viktor and Driese took you in. With the exception of Brendan, this family seemed to be a perfect replacement for Toren."

Tira sighed as Toren hopped down from the tree and grabbed Tira by the arm and brought her inside. "The rest of the story is better with a visual aide." Toren explained. "You see," Toren began as he pointed to Viktor and Driese talked in the hallway upstairs, "these two people gave you the same love and care Toren gave you, the very same love and care required to keep me and your bad side in check."

"Okay," Tira replied, "so if they're keeping me from killing, why are you here?"

"Kordin," Toren replied calmly. Toren walked upstairs and passed Viktor and Driese without being noticed. It was clear to Tira that he was a part of her, and thus, only she could see him. Tira followed him upstairs and into Brendan's room. Tira saw that Brendan was not home, and that Toren was now wearing Brendan's black sweater and black pants. "Perfect fit," Toren commented.

"Can we get back to the conversation," Tira commanded, getting irritated again. Toren left the room as he continued, "When Brendan asked you to do something for him, I figured you'd say no, no matter what he offered you, but Aiselne Drossel is no ordinary weapon. Tira, you were drawn to that weapon the exact same way you were drawn to the evil seed. At first I ignored it, but when you agreed to help Brendan for it, I knew something was wrong."

Toren sighed as he entered Tira room and stared out the window before continuing, "I don't think you fully understand the power of that ring blade. When you arrived at the chapel, you weren't controlling Aiselne Drossel, Aiselne Drossel was controlling you. As soon as you launched your first attack, the power of the ring blade completely removed me from your mind. As you fought Kordin, you didn't have any goodness inside of you. Let me ask you, as you fought Kordin, did you ever wonder the location of the supplies, or whether Brendan was the bad guy in this equation?"

Tira remained speechless. Toren nodded and continued. "You didn't. Tira, the second you killed Kordin, the evil seed reattached itself to you, causing me to try and fix the problem from the outside."

"And you failed miserably," came a familiarly deep voice from the doorway. Tira and Toren spun around to see Zasalamel standing at the doorway. "Tira," he began. "You are a killer. Don't let yourself stop you from what you are."

Toren stared at Zasalamel before sidestepping closer to Tira and whispering, "Don't listen to him, Tira. You're not a killer. You're human."

"Don't flatter yourself," Zasalamel yelled at Toren. Tira side stepped over to the wall and asked, "Who are you and how can you see Toren?" Zasalamel chuckled. "You don't remember me. That actually kind of funny, because last time we were together, I tried to kill you and someone who looks like this image saved you. Of course, I was angry at the time, but I figured it was all for the best, because now I can use you to my advantage."

"Shut up!" Toren yelled.

Zasalamel pulled out his scythe and said calmly, "You don't tell me what to do." Zasalamel threw his scythe and impaled Toren against the wall. Tira stared speechless until Toren replied, "Good thing I'm not real or else this would probably hurt." Zasalamel removed his scythe and said, "Give me one more order and I'll impale your mouth shut."

Zasalamel turned back to Tira and said, "Aiselne Drossel is calling you, and the only thing in your way are Brendan, Viktor, and Driese. "All you need to do is to take the ring blade and you can go back to killing like you used to." Toren stood against the wall, as Zasalamel walked over to Tira and asked, "Tell me Tira, how did it feel as you took that ring blade from Brendan's hands? How did it fell as you launched that first attack? How did it feel as you impaled him against the wall?"

Tira stared at Zasalamel in deep thought. She wasn't ecstatic, but she sure didn't feel any remorse in his death. Tira sighed, but before she could respond, Toren interrupted. "Tira, how did you feel when Driese asked for your help in the garden? How did you feel when the garden was perfected with you help? How did you feel when you and Driese were handed the first place trophy four times in a row?"

Tira was split, and Zasalamel could tell. Zasalamel grabbed Tira by the collar and dragged her into Brendan's room. "Do you see that bird in that cage," Zasalamel pointed out. "I wouldn't call that cage good living."

"So what," Tire replied. "Why should I care if Brendan doesn't take care of his pets?" Zasalamel smirked and obviously evil smirk before grabbing Tira by the collar and staring at her eye-to-eye. Toren jumped towards Zasalamel, but was impaled against the wall again. Tira stared into the golden eye as a smoke covered it. The smoke cleared to show a bird swooping down from a tree branch and landing on a younger Tira's shoulder. The younger Tira ran and joined up with a younger Toren and began to talk as they exited the jungle and the raven flew from Tira's shoulder to the tree. Tira attempted to struggle free from Zasalamel's grip, but he continued to hold on tightly. Tira tried to ignore the memory, until it all came back to her. "Liv," Tira mumbled.

Zasalamel loosened his grip and dropped Tira to the ground. Tira scrambled up and removed Kamisade from the cage. Tira took the raven to the window and said to him, "If you see a bird named Liv, tell her Tira says hello." Kamisade seemed to understand before flying off. Zasalamel began to laugh his triumphant laugh until the front door opened. Zasalamel smirked before saying, "It would appear the Viktor and Driese are back. This should be interesting." Zasalamel grabbed Toren's head and they both instantly disappeared.

Viktor and Driese came up the stairs and entered Brendan's room. Viktor caught his breath and asked, "I heard some noises up here. You wouldn't happen to know where that came from, would you?"

Tira shook her head no as Viktor and Driese began to walk out. Tira was relived to see that Viktor and Driese hadn't noticed the raven's disappearance, but Brendan wasn't so ignorant. "Hey!" Brendan yelled as he pushed through Viktor and Driese and ran to the empty cage. "Where's my bird?" Tira remained silent, but Brendan still spun around and yelled, "It was you! Why else would you be here in my room?"

"Tira," Driese began. "Is this true?" Tira, once again, remained silent. Viktor groaned and said, "Go to your room as Driese and I figure out your punishment."

"Punishment?" Tira yelled. "I'm surprised you two know the meaning of the word! All these years I've seen Brendan do wrong, immoral, and even illegal things and he's never been punished, and now, only for releasing an innocent animal from captivity, I get punished?" Viktor and Driese remained silent as Tira stormed out and to her room.

Hours passed and the sun fell down and Zasalamel suddenly appeared behind her with Toren. Zasalamel shoved Toren down and whispered to Tira, "Don't you see, Viktor and Driese never listen to you, so don't you think that they should have some sort of punishment of their own?"

"Tira," Toren began, "You don't have to enact revenge. You don't have to kill." Tira was clearly not listening to Toren as she said, "They don't listen tome."

"Precisely," Zasalamel replied. "So we should make sure that they never listen to anyone again." Tira left her room and stared at Aiselne Drossel that hung in the hallway. Toren knew he had lost to Zasalamel as Tira grabbed the ring blade. Toren groaned in pain. He could feel the evil seed slowly wiping him out.

Tira tiptoed into Viktor and Driese's room and stared at them laying asleep in their bed one last time before lifting up her ring blade and killing them instantly. Tira walked out to see Zasalamel with a giant smirk on his face say, "Okay, now Brendan is outside in the garden. You know what to do."

Tira nodded and walked down the stairs and outside and saw Brendan staring out unto the moon. " I saw you kill them," Brendan began calmly. "To tell you the truth, Tira, it's no big loss. I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're going to kill me to, but the question is, why you haven't done it yet."

Tira sighed and replied in a deep, inhuman voice, "You deserve the most painful death imaginable." Brendan chuckled and replied, "Funny, I was just thinking the same about you!" Brendan spun around and pulled out another ring blade and charged at Tira. Tira pulled out Aiselne Drossel and blocked Brendan's attack.

Tira turned her ring blade horizontally and charged At Brendan. Brendan jumped into the air and landed behind Tira. Brendan put the ring blade in his left hand and swung, Tira successfully bent down and kicked Brendan in the leg, causing him to trip back and drop his ring blade.

"Okay," Brendan began as Tira put her left leg on his stomach. "You win, but you will never be happy." Tira shrieked in anger and killed Brendan instantly.

Tira began to walk off and mumbled, "You're wrong Brendan. I feel very happy."


	12. The Azure Knight, Nightmare

Chapter 12: The Azure Knight, Nightmare

"_It's been two days," _Tira thought to herself as she traveled down the dirt road. She wasn't sure where it led, but she didn't care. Tira killed mercilessly on her trip, which meant to Tira that she was going the right way.

Tira was now in a small village in the south of Denmark. She glanced first at the ring blade flung over her shoulder before entering the town. Tira began to rate the people in the town as she usually did: worthy of death or not worthy of death. So far, no one seemed worthy enough for Tira to kill them, at least, not until two familiar male voices came from a run-down shack.

"Come on guys," came one of the voices, "I don't have the money with me right now, but if you come back here tomorrow, I promise that we will pay in full."

"With interest," the other added. There was silence in the shack until another voice replied, "Twenty-four hours. If you don't get us our earnings, then you get this fist in your face." The two men whimpered in glee as they dashed out, only to stop upon seeing Tira. The men were tall and skinny, yet unshaven with days old clothing and unclean hair.

"Hey," the one on the left began, "You're that girl. I guess I should thank you for making us lower than scum now!"

"You don't want to test me Alpha." Tira began. "Both you and your brother Beta here could both suffer a dire consequence." Beta glanced over at the ring blade slung over Tira's shoulder only to remember the mastery Tira showed in her match against Zatana only four years ago. Both Beta and Alpha knew she could only have gotten better.

"What do you want from us now?" Alpha questioned angrily. "After King Christian shut us down, we tried other scams, but for the people who were publicly reveled as scam artist in front of half of Copenhagen by the king, not many people fall for it. Now, we've been lowered to gambling, and as it turns out, we're not good at that either. Now if we don't get that guy his payment by tomorrow, we're dead."

"Really," Tira said, sliding her ring blade into her left hand. "Well, I'll make it easier for you, you won't have to wait that long. Tira grasped Aiselne Drossel with both hands and swung it violently at Alpha's head, but neither Alpha nor Beta even flinched. Tira stopped her attack only centimeters away from Alpha's face before slinging it back over her shoulder.

"I can see you're not scared of death," Tira began, "Too bad. Fear is half the fun." Beta chuckled. "My brother and I would rather die than have to live in this cruel world, but we are Christians, and all Christians know that Christians who commit suicide always go to hell."

"Exactly," Alpha added. "So basically, we're just waiting around for someone to kill us, and we're not picky. If you want to kill us know, so be it. If those guys who we owe money want to kill us, so be it. If the azure knight wants to kill us, then so be it."

"Azure Knight?" Tira asked. "What's an Azure Knight?" Alpha and Beta exchanged obscure looks. Alpha turned back to Tira before asking, "You're kidding, right?"

"Yeah," Beat continued. "I mean, anyone who's anyone knows of the azure knight, Nightmare." Tira shook her head no as Beta continued. "The Azure Knight as a mass murderer. He hasn't appeared in Denmark, but there's always a chance."

No one knows his true identity," Alpha interrupted, "but that doesn't seem to be important. What's important is that Nightmare is a killer, Nightmare is merciless, and Nightmare is unstoppable."

Tira began to think. "Where is Nightmare now?"

"You think we know?" Beta asked. Tira gave Beta a strong stare, but Beta didn't respond. Tira then began to stare at Alpha, who quickly cracked under the pressure. "Okay, fine. Truth is, Beta and I have been tracking the azure knight's movements for some time now."

"Yeah," Beta added. "For the last couple of weeks, the azure knight remained unseen, and presumably killed by a swordsman named Raphael Sorel, but the whereabouts of Raphael are currently unknown and massacres by a knight in azure armor began to reappear in the Ostrheinburg area." Beta stopped talking when he noticed that Tira stopped listening. He waved his hand in front of her face, but Tira didn't move.

Alpha and Beta gave each other odd looks before turning around and starting to walk away. Alpha and Beta continued to walk until Tira grabbed both of their collars and said, "Boys, we're going on a little field trip."

Hours passed and Ostrheinburg was within distance. The moon was now in full view. "Where exactly are we going?" Alpha inquired. "I mean seriously, the town has to be miles across, and our research doesn't specify the location."

"Don't worry about that part," Tira explained. "I know exactly where we are going." Beta sighed. "Oh yeah, well what if you run into the azure knight? Then what?"

"That's what I'm hoping for?" Tira replied.

"What?" Alpha replied, "That's why we're going? So you can kill Nightmare? I don't think you we're listening to what we said earlier. Nightmare is unstoppable." Tira was seemingly not listening. The group continued to walk until they arrived at a waterfall. Alpha and Beta stared at it until Tira grabbed both of than and dragged them into the water and through the falls. Tira let go and climbed on to land, leaving the brothers to gasp for air and climb on to the land.

"What was that about?" Beta yelled, stumbling on to the land. Alpha gasped for air and replied, "Check it out, Beta. It's the castle."

"Unbelievable," Beta replied in a gasp. "We discarded this castle as superfluous in our research. Maybe that's why we never could figure out the exact location of the azure knight." Alpha and Beta continued to talk to themselves as Tira decided to continued to walk without them. Eventually, Alpha and Beta followed her up the stairs.

"Someone's been here," Tira announced. "I can tell." Tira continued to survey the area until Beta asked Alpha, "If Nightmare's been here, does that mean Soul Edge has been here?"

Tira ran over and asked, "Soul Edge, what is it?"

"Man," Beta responded. "You are clueless. Don't feel bad. Not everyone knows what it is. Soul Edge is Nightmare's weapon. Said to be made of pure evil, the sword was created many years ago to be an opposition to the holy blade Soul Calibur."

"Yeah," Alpha continued. "It was first owned by the dreaded pirate Cervantes some ten years ago. Three years after that, the azure knight made his first moving using a sword that can only be described as otherworldly."

"Now," Beta continued, "The Azure Knight has reappeared, along with a slew of people who either want to destroy the sword, or use it for their own personal gain." Tira returned to the edge of the building and began to think. _"Is this Nightmare guy really all that great?" _Tira continued to think until loud footsteps coming from below. Alpha and Beta heard it too.

"Wait," Alpha whispered. "We assumed that Nightmare WAS here. What if we were wrong?" The group stared down to the ground below until the Nightmare came out of the shadows of the night.

"Remain perfectly still," Tira whispered to Alpha and Beta. "This may be the only chance I have at defeating the Azure Knight and claiming my rightful place as the world's deadliest killer."

Beta and Alpha began to breathe heavily until Tira moved between them and covered their mouths. Nightmare began to shift his head in the direction of the group. Tira was sure her position had been compromised until Nightmare turned back around.

Tira held her breathe as Nightmare continued to walk, dragging Soul Edge along the way. Nightmare was almost out of view as Tira let out a sigh of relief. Tira let go of Alpha and Beta and covered her own mouth as Nightmare shifted his head back in Tira's direction and stared directly into her eyes.


	13. The First Test of Evil

Chapter 13: The First Test of Evil

Nightmare began to run to the other side of the building. "He's coming," Tira said nervously, "I've lost the element of surprise." Tira removed the ring blade and prepared for battle. Nightmare was easily heard. His armor was nowhere near sneaky. Tira continued to stay still, prepared for battle.

The clanking footsteps suddenly began to get slower, but didn't stop. Nightmare was walking slower only to scare her. Tira wasn't fazed, but Alpha and Beta were scared out of their wits. Finally, Nightmare's horn popped into view. Suddenly, Tira dropped her ring blade.

"What re you doing?" Alpha protested.

"Yeah,' Beta added, "In case you hadn't noticed, that ring blade is the only thing that's going to keep the azure knight from ripping you to shreds." Tira didn't answer. She was frozen. Nightmare was almost up the steps and Tira couldn't move a muscle. As soon as he placed his foot on the floor, Tira screamed in agony. Tira began to hold her head and scream.

It wasn't an ordinary scream. It was almost inhuman. Nightmare walked closer and the screams only got louder and more inhuman. Nightmare didn't seem to care as he pulled out Soul Edge from the harness on his back. Now, Nightmare hesitated. Tira stopped screaming. It was so abrupt; it sent chills down Alpha and Beta's spine.

"That power," Tira growled. Tira's world suddenly blanked out, but she didn't fall unconscious. She still had full control of her body. Suddenly, flashbacks began to stream through. They went so fast, Tira couldn't grasp them until they finally stopped and ran at normal speed. It was the night Tira killed her. Clan. Her body was no longer in her control.

She relived every moment of it. She killed her entire clan all over again. Everything, even the tiniest detail, was relived. Tira killed everyone, painfully and slowly. Suddenly, the flashbacks stopped. In front of Tira, stood Nightmare. Tira turned to see that Alpha and Beta were dead, blood covering their bodies and allover the walls behind them. "That power," Tira growled again. "In need that power! I will do anything to get that power!"

"Anything?" Nightmare asked. Tira nodded. "Then you will get this power and perhaps I will allow you to come with me in acquiring more power, but you must do something for me."

"Anything! Anything! Anything!"

"Your flashbacks were very vivid," Nightmare explained. "You mumbled many names, and Soul Edge gets more power if you kill someone you already know, so I need you to kill Logan and Zatana, whoever they are."

"Yes!" Tira accepted. "As long as get the power, I will do anything."

Days passed. Tira traveled south towards the forbidden forest, killing anyone who dared to cross her path. After a week of traveling, Tira arrived at the forest entrance. Because of the flashback, Tira could remember her first visit here perfectly. Tira was scared to enter and Toren teased her for it. After a little confrontation with some talking coyotes, Tira and Toren managed to leave and continued on their quest home.

Now, as Tira entered, she could tell that it was the woodland creatures shivering in fear instead of her. Tira continued to walk in silence until a figure hopped in front of he from the trees. Tira grabbed the ring blade, but let go realizing that the forest was miles long and she would never find Logan unless someone took her to him. Tira remembered hat there was only one talking coyote, and that this one wasn't it. Still, he seemed to recognize had as he motioned for her to follow.

Tira nodded and followed him for what seemed to be hours. Finally, a campfire appeared in the distance. Tira ran to it, keeping her ring blade close, but let it go as she found that only coyotes surrounded it. "You've grown," came the talking coyote's voice.

"As have you," Tira replied. Tira found it very hard to pretend to be nice. She was going to kill them all eventually. She just needed Logan's location. The coyote circled Tira, which she found irritating.

"Logan will be very pleased to meet you, but when I was told that you were here, I was under the impression that Toren would be with you as well. You wouldn't happen to know where his, do you?"

"No," Tira replied. "We split paths a few years back."

"I'm sure you keep in touch, right?"

"He pops in whenever he can," Tira replied. "I'll make sure to tell him you said hello when I speak with him. Speaking of which, where is Logan? I haven't seen him in so long. I have much to tell him."

"He's out right now," he replied. Tira winced. _"Of course he's out!" _she thought. _"If he wasn't out he'd be here. I want to know where he is you stupid freak of nature!" _

"He'll be back soon," he continued. "Right now, please, tell me how you've fared these past years."

Tira couldn't take it. She couldn't stay here any longer and not kill any of the coyotes. "Actually," she began, "I feel like a taking a little walk." Tira backed away from the campsite before running as fast as she could. She stopped as soon as she thought she was away from them. Tira began to walk around the jungle aimlessly. She could remember four years ago that she wandered the exact same way.

Tira continued to walk until a familiar chirp came from behind her. Tira spun around. Tira smiled at Liv, but Liv was staring above her. Liv flew to another branch, but not once glanced at Tira. Tira began to whistle. Now, Liv turned to Tira and instinctively flew to her arm.

"Good," Tira said calmly. "I need you for something very important. If you can do this one thing for me, I promise to take care of you forever. Deal?" Liv didn't respond. She didn't even move, but somehow, took Liv's answer approvingly. Tira whistled again and Liv flew back to the branch she was at.

Tira continued to walk haphazardly until two coyotes blocked her path. "Logan has returned, "he explained. "He is very pleased to see you again."

"Oh," Tira replied, "then by all means, take me to him." Tira followed the coyotes back to camp, where Logan, shimmering with delight, stood near the fire. Logan looked noticeably different. He was still skinny, but his clothes were newer and cleaner and had a clearly happier demeanor.

"Tira!" he yelled in glee. Logan ran and gave Tira hug. Tira had to use all of her self-control not to rip his head off right there. "I must say," he continued, "It is good to see you again. Do get me wrong, my coyotes are good company, but nothing compares to good old-fashioned human companionship. It is unfortunate that Toren isn't with you."

"Yeah," Tira replied. "Don't worry, the next time I see him, I'll tell him to stop by."

Logan smiled in glee and excitement. Tira placed her hand on Aiselne Drossel, but let go. There were to many coyotes. Not even she could take them all at the same time. "Logan," Tira began, can I speak with you in private?" Logan nodded and the two left through the trees.

"Follow them," the head coyote ordered. "I have a bad feeling about Tira."

Tira and Logan stopped walking when Tira was sure she was alone. "Well?" Logan asked. "What was so important that you had to pull me away from the coyotes?"

Tira smiled devilishly. "It's nothing really. I just wanted to make sure that the last thing you see is my face." Tira pulled down the ring blade and swung it at Logan. Logan hopped back and the ring blade only sliced his stomach.

Logan stared at her in shock. "Tira…" suddenly, one of the coyotes came in and disappeared with Logan as fast as he came.

"Tira," came the coyote's voice. "I'm going to give you five seconds to explain yourself." Tira turned around and drew the ring blade horizontally. Tira charged and the group of coyotes dodged. Coyotes now surrounded her. Ira was on the defensive as the came out of the woodwork. The coyotes had a thorough knowledge of the jungle and Tira did not.

Tira got enraged. The evil seed in her mind began to take control. Tira kept the ring blade well in hand as she charged. Now, she was getting the better hand. The coyotes were dropping like flies and the remaining coyotes were getting defensive. Tira was unstoppable.

Coyote parts and blood was splattered all over the trees and jungle floor. Finally, Tira stood along around a pile of coyote corpses. "You'll never find him," came the coyote's fleeting voice. "Logan knows every inch of this jungle. You could search forever and never find him. Whoever you are, because you're not Tira, you will not find Logan." Tira lost it and swung the ring blade directly through the coyote.

Tira stared at the lifeless corpse in silence before beginning to whistle. After a few seconds, Liv came out of the trees and landed on Tira's shoulder. "Now," she began, "I have a mission for you. Find Logan." Tira whistled and Liv was off. She followed the raven down the trail and deeper into the woods until heavy breathing could be heard. How could she hear that? Logan was nowhere to be seen, but she could still hear him.

Tira called Liv back and followed the breathing. Eventually, Tira saw Logan standing on the other side of a tree. Tira pulled out the ring blade and launched it at the tree, but it got stuck in the tree only inches from his face. Logan fell and scrambled back towards another tree as Tira pulled the ring blade out and began to walk towards Logan.

"Who are you?" Logan insisted. The fear in his voice only caused Tira to move faster. "You're not Tira. The Tira I knew was kind and respectful. You are not Tira!"

Tira smiled. She drew the ring blade up and swung. Logan screamed in pain as the ring blade impaled his left leg. Tira wiggled the ring blade around for a while until Logan began to go into shock from the loss of blood. "No more screaming," Tira complained. "Awww, you're no fun anymore."

Tira removed the blade and stuck it into his chest. After a few bursts of pain, Logan keeled over, dead. Tira smiled again as Liv landed on her shoulder. "Good. Now, all I need to do is eliminate Zatana and that power is all mine."


	14. Tira, the New Master of the Ring Blade

Chapter 14: Tira, the New Master of the Ring Blade

It had been a week since Logan's death. Tira didn't even look back as she exited the forest with Liv on her shoulders. Tira wasn't sure why Liv came with her. Last time they were together, Tira begged for her to come with her and Toren, but she insisted on staying in the forest.

Tira didn't ask her. Now, Tira had arrived at the end of the search for Zatana. Zatana had been hopping from country to country, tournament to tournament and Tira had arrived to late. It was beginning to get irritating and Tira began to kill everyone still left at the arenas when she arrived.

Now, she was right on time. Tira knew that if Zatana had already signed up, she wouldn't leave the safety of the arena, so she would have to sign up if she would have any contact with her. Tira approached the sign up sheet and saw Zatana's name on top. The letters were huge and well written, which made Tira even angrier. Tira wrote her name at the bottom of the sheet before stabbing the pencil through Zatana's name.

Tira left the room and entered the arena. She immediately began to look for Zatana, but she was nowhere to be found. "Zatana," Tira whispered to Liv. "I want you to find her and don't come back until you do." Liv nodded her head before flying off.

"A little girl?" came a patronizing voice from behind Tira. "I hope you know that this is a no-holds battle royal here. You could get seriously injured."

Tira lost it. She pulled out her ring blade and pinned the man against the arena wall. "I want you to listen to me very carefully. The only reason you're still in one piece is because if I killed you now my mission would be compromised. Now, if you stay out of my way, I might let you live."

Tira let the man go and walked away as the man began to gasp for air. "Welcome," came the announcer's voice as he stood in the ring. "Today, we have a record amount of fighters. Thirty-seven brave fighters have signed up to put their lives on the line for your entertainment and the grand prize of 5000 pieces of gold."

Tira didn't doubt that he was lying like Alpha and Beta, and he was, he would share the same fate. Regardless, Tira was preoccupied with something else the man said. "Thirty-seven fighters," she whispered to herself. "I don't have time for this."

"We will have one round each day," the announcer continued, "staring today. Sine there is an odd number of participants, one fighter will be automatically transferred into the next round, and per a draw out of a hat earlier, that participant is Zatana!"

"Damn it!" Tira yelled. Tira lower her voice as the other participants began to look at her strangely. "Now I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow." The announcer called the first participant, but Tira didn't care. All she wanted to see was Zatana.

The first round was boring, or at least it was to Tira. The rest of the crowd and fighter were cheering loudly, which made Tira sick. The weapons were real, but no one was dying. Everyone stopped just before the fatal kill. Tira would change all that. The sun was almost completely set before Tira's name was called along with another fighter, Leon.

Tira lazily entered the ring as Leon came the other side. It was the same man that patronized her earlier in the day. Tira wasn't planning on showing any mercy and neither was Leon. "If the fighters are ready," the announcer began, "Let the fight commence."

Leon pulled his sword from his holster, but Tira had already begun to charge with the ring blade horizontally. Leon managed the jump out of the way in time, but Tira just changed direction. Leon continued to dodge back and forth while Tira simply continued to change direction. Tira wasn't getting anywhere, but neither was Leon.

Eventually, Leon stopped running. He simply stood as Tira began to charge directly at him. At the last second, Leon dropped his sword and grasped on the other end of the ring blade with both hands. Blood trickled down his hand as he kept Tira locked in place.

Tira knew she couldn't move. If she did, Leon would have full control of her blade. "Just give up," Leon insisted in the same patronizing tone. "You can only wish to be as good as me." That was the last straw. Tira made sure she had a good handle on the ring blade as she returned to charging. The ring blade slowly continued to seep into his skin and soon reached bone, but Leon remained unfazed.

Tira could feel the evil seed take over her body again but this time, it didn't stop there. The evil seed slowly began to surround the ring blade. Eventually, the ring blade began to catch fire and Leon was forced to let go. Tira didn't feel the flames. Instead, she felt its power.

Leon was bent over, trying to stop his hands from bleeding. Tira took the ring blade firmly and raised it over his head. Tira slashed down, but Leon turned around and blocked it with his sword. Tira didn't even see him pick it up. The sword didn't seem to matter. The flames didn't extinguish. Instead, it seemed to be getting stronger. Leon's jaw dropped as he saw his sword slowly melting.

Leon began to panic as the metal continued to dwindle. Tira pressed the ring blade closer, causing the metal to melt faster. Eventually, the sword was no more and Tira wasted no time in impaling Leon in the chest.

Gasps came from the audience as he gasped for air. The announcer tried to pull Tira off, but it was no good. By the time more people came to pull Tira off, the ring blade had extinguished and Leon was already dead.

Tira angrily walked under the stadium as the announcer attempted to handle crowd control. "Umm," came the announcer's voice. "Due to unexpected results from the most recent battle, the tournament will be put on hold until tomorrow." Tira grumbled in pure anger. She was never going to get anywhere at this rate. She had to do something about the competition.

Night soon fell. Tira had called Liv back and ordered her to keep a lookout on all the other competitors, whether they were leaving or not. If they wandered off too far from the stadium, Tira took her chance to kill them before they escaped her grasp. She also killed all of the competitors sleeping soundly in their rooms. Tira stayed up much of the night making sure she didn't miss any.

In fact, there were a few close calls. One of the competitors, a heavily muscular man, had woken up right before Tira killed him. He managed to let out a cry for help before being killed. Tira had hoped that the guard had heard, but the guard wasn't there. (Tira later found out that the guard had left his post for a night of drinking in town with his buddies.)

Another, a woman with a very shapely figure who decided to go into town, tried to fight back, but the end result was the same and Tira decided to leave her body in the empty street.

Finally, she and Liv crunched the numbers and figure that only she and Zatana were left. Tira decided to rest up for the match tomorrow. Tira awoke to see that the bodies had already been discovered. Suspicions had been instantly been put on Tira by the guards, but without any solid proof, Tira was allowed to enter the ring.

Tira stood in the ring with the nervous announcer. He also suspected Tira of the mass murders. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began. "It is my sad duty to inform all of you that all the other competitors had been killed last night due to what is being called undeterminable circumstances. While local law enforcements begin an investigation, the tournament must continue, and so with Tira and Zatana being the only competitors left, we will commence with the final rounds."

The announcer quickly ran offstage as the audience placed their attention on the door leading under the coliseum. Zatana slowly came out of the door, but her appearance had drastically changed since fur years ago. Her hair was short and her clothing her more man-ish. Now Tira figured out why she couldn't find her before. Zatana had been disguised as one of the guards. Zatana must have seen everything, or at the very least figured out what Tira had done the previous night. The element of surprise was gone. Now, she had to rely on her skill.

Zatana stepped onto the ring on the opposite side of Tira. Zatana smiled. "I don't; know what's come over you, Tira, but I will not hesitant to kill you if it comes down to that."

"So sure it was I?" Tira asked.

"Yes, I am,' Zatana replied. "You see, three days ago, a coyote came to me. As odd as that was, it began to communicate with me. Somehow, I managed to deduce what it was telling me. He said that Tira had just killed Logan and bragged about coming to kill me next. I decided to go undercover to prove the coyote wrong, but I guess he was right. Just remember, I will not hesitate to kill you."

Just what I was hoping for," she replied.

The announcer heisted before yelling, "Let the fight commence!" Tira removed her ring blade and charged directly at her. Zatana removed her ring blade and placed it into a defensive position. Tira stopped and at the last second, impaled her ring blade diagonally into the ground and front flipped over Zatana. Tira turned and elbowed Zatana in her back.

Zatana crawled on the ground and picked up Aiselne Drossel. Tira picked up Zatana's ring blade and rushed again. Zatana defended again, but Tira at the last second lowered the ring blade and kicked Zatana through the ring blade.

Zatana hopped back up in time to successfully deflect Tira's charge. Tira hopped back to avoid Zatana's swing. Tira ducked below another swing. Tira went in for a low kick, but Zatana easily blocked it. _"This isn't working," _Tira thought. _"Zatana basically taught me what I know. She'll easily block conventional moves. I just have to think outside the box."_

Tira hopped up and began to run. Zatana stood n confusion as Tira ran into the stands. "Uhhh," cam the announcer. "Since Tira is no longer in the ring, I call this tournament officially over. Zatana is the winner!"

"No one wins until someone stops breathing!" Tira yelled. "And if that someone has to be a civilian, then so be it." Tira ran up to the fifth row and grabbed a young woman and held her in a headlock. Zatana instinctively ran up and followed her. Tira dragged the hostage up the stairs and Zatana closed in.

Zatana searched for an opening, but everyone she swung, she risked hitting the hostage. "I can't believe you would sink so low." Zatana said. "Four years ago, I knew a girl named Tira. She wasn't very savvy on fighting skills and she looked up to her brother. Where's that girl now?"

"She dead," Tira grumbled. "Just like you." Zatana looked down. Her own ring blade had impaled her in the leg and she hadn't even realized it. Tira hadn't even moved. She had forced the ring blade straight through the hostage.

The hostage was dead, but Zatana was still in pain. Tira pulled the ring blade out and kicked the body away. Zatana held on to her wound and Tira impaled her in her stomach. Zatana instantly began to gasp for air as she dropped Aiselne Drossel. Tira let go of the ring blade and picked up her own.

At this point, Zatana had keeled over in pain. Tira, standing behind her, impaled her in her back. More screams of pain mixed with gasps for air followed until they abruptly stopped. Zatana was dead.

Panic had already overrun the stadium, but it seamed to have gotten worse fast. Tira wasn't sure why until a voice yelled, "It's the Azure Knight!"

Tira hopped down from the stands to see Nightmare killing audience members in the other side of the stands. Tira managed to catch up to him. The stands had almost emptied as Nightmare said, "I saw the match. I've got to admit, I didn't think you had what it takes to be a servant of the sword. Many have tried and failed, but you may just have what it takes to handle the power of the evil seed."

"What do you mean may?" she asked. "I've killed two of may best friends. Isn't that enough?'

"No," Nightmare replied. "In order to prove that you can handle the power of the sword, you have to kill he who is most precious to you. Kill Toren."

Tira smiled as Liv landed on her shoulder. "It would be my honor."

* * *

There's only one chapter left in this epic tale and I guarantee you it will leave you on the edge of your seat. The title will be Tira vs. Toren and I guarantee it will uploaded before the end of the year. Enjoy! 


	15. Tira vs Toren

I know I promised you the final chapter before the new year, but I decided to hold off becuase it seemed rushed. I wanted the final chapter to be perfect and I suppose I'll just wait for your well-respected reviews to see how well Idid. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 15: Tira vs. Toren

Toren sat alone at the table in the bar in northern Denmark. He had been nursing the same beer for the last our. It wasn't because he had nothing better to do. I was actually because he was waiting for a good shot. The old man from Ostrheinburg was in the bar, but the crowd standing around him made it impossible for him to get a good shot.

He held the kunai close, but he had never actually taken the time to learn how to use it. He preferred using his hands. The old man hadn't left the spot he had been sitting in for the entire hour. He surely must have spotted him by now.

The old man motioned for a man standing next to him. He whispered something to him and he walked over to the Toren. "The boss would like to speak with you."

Toren stood up and shoved the man aside. Toren pushed the other crowd members and shoved a woman out of the stool and sat next to the old man. "You know why I'm here," Toren said calmly. "Why are you still here? You stand no chance against me."

"Is that so?" the old mad asked as he spun his chair around, almost turning his back to Toren. "If I remember correctly, I won the fight four years ago. You don't seem to be any better skilled. For your only safety and well being, I suggest you leave now. I'll be willing to spare you your life if you disappear right now."

"I couldn't do that," Toren explained. "I made a promised to someone I love and I put my family first. You will die." Toren pulled the kunai out and stabbed the old man in his rib. Toren slowly pulled the kunai out and held it defensively.

No one moved. Toren spun the old man around and realized the trick. That wasn't the old man. He was thirty years old at most. "Funny," Toren yelled. "You're a comedian. Now come on out and stop acting like a coward!"

There was no answer. The old man's henchmen were talking amongst themselves in confusion. Something was clearly not going according to plan. Toren stood up but was shoved down by one of the old man's henchmen. "Stay," he ordered.

The henchmen began to climb up the stairs to the second floor the bar. A sharp scream came that was abruptly cut off. The other henchmen and woman began to rush up the stairs and began to fall back down in swarms. Many others began to flee the bar in flocks. Toren stood up and began to climb the steps amid the madness.

There were only a handful of people left as Toren approached the source of the commotion. "Tira!" Toren yelled. Tira didn't turned around as she lopped off the head of another henchman. Eventually, only Tira and Toren were left on the balcony.

Toren looked behind Tira to see the old man, who was barely holding on the life. "Tira," he whispered. Tira took two steps back and raised her ring blade in front of her. "Tira?" Tira remained silent, but unmoving. The entire room was shrouded in silence.

After five minutes, Tira readied an attack, and Toren cracked a smile. Tira lowered her ring blade and stared in shock. Tira took two more steps back and hopped out the window. Toren dropped his smile and looked out the window, but Tira was nowhere to be seen.

Toren spun the kunai around his finger for a few more seconds until dropping it in the old man's head.

Hours passed. Toren wouldn't easily forget his short meeting with Tira, but he couldn't do anything about it. It seemed like Tira vanished into thin air. Toren had been walking aimlessly around town, hopelessly trying to find any indication of Tira's whereabouts.

Toren sat down on a park bench. A man in a black jacket resting against a tree looked back and forth before sitting down next to Toren. "I've told you everything I know about the old man," he insisted.

"That's not what I'm here for, Kam," Toren explained. "I have a new job for you. Don't worry; you'll be paid double. I need you to find my sister, Tira. The last time I spoke with her was about four years ago at the old Bird of Passage headquarters near Copenhagen."

Kam sighed before standing back up and walking off. After a few minutes, Toren did the same and headed home.

The following day, Kam arrived at the old Bird of Passage base as he had promised, but he soon felt that the trip was a waste of time. "It's all a pile of ruble," he complained to himself. "Either way, his sister's not here now." Kam sighed before turning his back to the ruins.

Kam began to walk off until he heard rustling in the trees. The sound was clearly made purposely. Kam turned back around to see Tira right behind him. Tira shoved him up against a tree and put the ring blade on his throat.

"Listen closely," she said. "The only reason you're still breathing is because I need you to rely a message for me. If Toren isn't here in two days, I'll hunt you down and make sure your death is unnecessarily painful."

Tira slowly released Kam from her grip. Kam began to regain his breath and said, "You're lucky my job was only to find you." Kam began to walk off, but not before Tira's inhuman growl sent shivers down his spine.

Two days had passed. Tira hadn't left the Bird of Passage ruin since her meeting with Kam, not even to eat or sleep. Still, she didn't feel weak. In fact, the lack of food and sleep seemed to give her more energy. The day was quickly coming to a close and there was no sign of Toren.

Tira picked p her ring blade and prepared to hunt down Kam. Tira stopped. Footsteps. Tira climbed up a tree and sat carefully as Toren came into view.

"Okay!" he yelled. "I'm here! What do you want?"

Tira didn't move. She continued to watch Toren haphazardly walk back and forth among the random pieces of wood and the occasional standing wall. Toren yelled for Tira again, but she still didn't come down.

"Tira!" he yelled again. "I'm not sure what this is about, but I want to know. Come on out and tell me what's going on!" This time, Tira hopped down. Tira leaped in the air, ring blade close in hand and launched at Toren.

Toren hopped back, but didn't in anyway attempt to defend himself. Tira stood straight up and said, "One of us is not leaving here alive."

"Coward," Toren whispered.

"Coward?" Tira asked. "How am I the coward? I'm here to rip you to shreds. If anything, you're the coward. You were late."

"You need me to explain?" Toren asked rhetorically. "Fine. First off, Tira isn't here. Tira's hiding. Tira's been looking for a place to hide all her life and now she's found the perfect place. Behind the Evil Seed. Do you want to know why Tira is hiding behind the evil seed?"

"Enlighten me," she said cheerfully. "Maybe I can get a good laugh for this."

"Tira is afraid of rejection," Toren explained. "That's the only reason you're here. It because Tira is afraid of being rejected. You killed Logan and Zatana before they had a chance to reject you. Now you're doing the same to me. The only difference is that I've already rejected you. You lost."

"We'll see who's the loser?" Tira yelled indiscriminately. Tira raised the ring blade and swung at Toren head. Toren simply ducked. "I must be right," Toren said. "It seems like I'm fighting two people with two completely different plans. For once, Tira's mind and the mind of the evil seed aren't thinking as one."

"They don't have to be," she growled. "All I need to do is kill you, and I can promise you that it'll be the single most fun I will ever have." Tira launched another swing, but Toren simply took two steps back. Tira continued to try the same strike over and over again, and Toren simply moved back.

"Tira," Toren continued. "I'm not talking to the evil seed. I'm talking to you and I'd really appreciate it of it was you who answered. You don't want to do this. So why are you letting it happen?"

"I may not want to do this," Tira replied. Toren could tell it was really Tira talking, "but wanting and needing are two different things. I need the power!" Tira continued to slash and swipe wildly, none of which were even getting close to hitting Toren. Toren continued to walk back until backing up to a tree. Tira launched the same attack as Toren leaped in the air and the ring blade impaled the tree.

"You won't get anything from me," Toren said. "The reason I was late is because I had a little meeting with someone named Zasalamel. He explained to me that the power of Soul Edge is greatly increased if the soul taker is close to the victim."

"I know that!" Tire yelled as she removed the ring blade. "Why else would I be here? Now let me kill you!"

"I'm not done," Toren said as he return to dodging Tira's random attacks. "This goes back to what I told you about your fear of rejection. The fear is more intense than you realize. The only thing that kept you from having a complete mental breakdown after I deserted you was retreating backing the recesses of your own mind."

"Your point?" Tira growled.

"My point is that because the Tira that was once related to me is trapped, I'm not related to you. I'm not talking to Tira. All I see is a lifeless husk possessed by evil."

"Don't you get it?" Tira yelled. The evil seed wasn't talking it was Tira. Her voice was the same as when she was thirteen. "I'm not here to kill you for your soul. I'm here for revenge. You left me. Only your death will satisfy my thirst for revenge."

Toren stood silent for a long time before finally responding, "I'm sorry."

"I'm not," Tira said. Tira gave a monotone whistle and Liv came flying down from the sky like a missile. Toren didn't have time to react as Liv stabbed him in his neck. Toren was instantly paralyzed. Tira pushed Toren back against the tree with her foot and began to slowly push the ring blade into his stomach.

Tira pulled it out as soon as she was sure that Toren was no longer breathing.

"Congratulations," Nightmare said as he approached Tira. Tira knew that he was watching, but it hadn't changed anything. "You have proved your loyalty. I suppose I owe you a gift." Nightmare napped his fingers as an army of raven began to engulf the sky.

"They're all yours," Nightmare said.

"Good," Tira said as she stared off into the sunset, "Black's my favorite color."


End file.
